What Is It With Politicians Comparing Roads To Women Actors' Cheeks?

Congress MLA Dr Irfan Ansari recently promised roads smoother than Kangana Ranaut's cheeks in his constituency of Jamtara in Jharkhand, exposing yet again the unrelenting trend of sexist objectification in Indian politics. Good or bad, whatever the circumstances of their position, male politicians find it alarmingly convenient to attack women with impunity.

A video of Ansari, which is reportedly self-shot and was posted Friday, shows him pledging better infrastructure and resources to the people of his constituency. "I assure you that roads of Jamtara will be smoother than cheeks of film actress Kangana Ranaut," is one such pledge he makes, as per his video shared by ANI. 

Ansari's remarks have kicked off a controversy, with many on social media calling him out, as they should, for their casually sexist nature. At the same time, this kind of gaffe comes as unsurprising. This is not the first time a politician has premised their promise around a woman actors' cheeks.

It appears to be a longstanding fetish.

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Veteran actor Hema Malini's cheeks have been a common target. Back in 2005, the most infamous of these remarks came from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who reportedly claimed Bihar's roads would be constructed like Malini's cheeks. Fast forward to 2021, when another minister, this time Shiv Sena's Gulabrao Patil, offered to resign if the roads in his Maharashtrian constituency of Jalgaon did not resemble Malini's cheeks.

"A trend of such statements was started by Lalu Ji years ago and many people have followed this trend. Such comments are not in a good taste," Malini, now a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, had said reacting to the controversy around Patil's remarks.

Last year, another Congress MLA from Rajasthan, Rajendra Singh Gudha, made a similar obnoxious analogy to actor Katrina Kaif's cheeks.

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It is flattering that male politicians cannot go long without bringing women into the fold of their political conversations. But please, spare women the toxicity of your ingrained misogyny. Even when it regards those women with whom your ideologies may differ, like Ranaut, who has increasingly turned into a rare figure that both acts and steeps themselves in socio-political discourse, which attracts much criticism towards her.

If men in Indian politics are so keen on including women in their shortsighted narratives, then they would be better off doing so by actually including them.

The gender share in India's political arena is still anchored in favour of men, and the numbers are not improving. The Global Gender Gap Index 2021 released by the World Economic Forum recorded India's shameful slip in overall gender representation by 28 places, making us the third-worst performer in South Asia.

The biggest slip came in politics by a shocking 13.5 percent, with women ministers decreasing to 9.1 percent in 2021.

While several tangible disparities like finances, education, resources come into play to contribute to that disadvantage, the entire macrocosm of it can be linked to the gender discrimination prevalent in our very patriarchal society that continues to look at women as second-class citizens.

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It is men like Ansari, Yadav, Patil in politics and beyond into the general citizenry who are keeping the culture of gender oppression - through microaggressions, casual sexism, objectification - alive in India. With people like these in power and governance, how exactly can we expect change to come at ground level?

What will compel men around us to change when the men in decision-making seats are themselves finding value in making statements that reduce women to static objects? And no, there is no argument here at all that comments such as 'like so-and-so's cheeks' will ever qualify as compliments.

Good roads can look like good roads. People will use them to satisfaction without politicians' needless sexist analogies too.

Views expressed are the author's own.