M A I N   N E W S

In Haryana’s Mewat, poll is purely a ‘man thing’
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service

Nuh (Mewat), October 12
In the backyard of Haryana’s economic hub of Gurgaon, where women rub shoulders with their male counterparts, life is quite different just 45 km away.

Women of Mewat are hardly permitted to step out except on special occasions and that, too, with a chaperon. For them, elections only mean their fathers, brothers and husbands staying out till late and on some days returning inebriated after a daylong campaigning in far-flung areas.

“Decent families don’t allow their women to go for canvassing or to vote. Unmarried girls do not even have a vote because they would not be allowed to cast it till they are married and settled at their in-laws’ place,” says Ruddar Ali, a supporter of sitting Haryana Transport Minister Aftab Ahmad who is re-contesting the Nuh seat.

In Fireozpur-Jhirka, Punhana and Nuh, the three constituencies in the Muslim-dominated Mewat districts, democracy is limited to men. Women have no role to play in the poll process. Not many have much say even in running their own homes, electing representatives to run a government is a far cry. "What elections? We are "choris" (unmarried girls) and know nothing about elections or the candidates" is the response of young women to a query about party positions in Rawasan village on the Nuh-Sohna road.

On seeing a vehicle stop by the roadside, a hundred yards away from the village "johad" (community washing pond), a group of women panic and frantically look for “dupattas” to veil themselves. “Please go away, we don't speak to strangers. We know nothing about elections nor are we allowed to talk about them,” says the youngest among them, after mustering courage.