Shivraj Singh Chouhan by no means known as for “tracking working women”: How liberals made a narrative out of nothing

You will need to have heard. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is planning to register and observe each motion of working girls. What extra are you able to anticipate from the patriarchal, sexist outdated males of the BJP who run that cow belt state? Headlines in liberal media have already delivered their verdict. Feminists have already made daring declarations of intent: they’ll by no means register! A track or poem, on the strains of “kaagaz nahin dikhayenge” may additionally be within the works.
The Madhya Pradesh authorities clarified that this was solely a proposal to assist with safety. It had no intention of monitoring anybody and would apply equally to each women and men. But this didn’t cease India’s feminists from combating crucial girls’s rights battle in a technology. A variety of left-wing opinion websites chimed in, uncovering all kinds of ulterior motives that you could be not have observed at first.
But first, allow us to take a look at what the Chief Minister truly stated. Here is the video. Luckily, it’s from Barkha’s Mojo Story, which ought to give me some safety from criticism by liberals. Anyway, ignore the title of the video and simply hearken to what the Chief Minister stated (beginning 0:20)

“Koi mazdoori karne, kaam karne ke liye bhi koi beti-beta baahar jayega, to pehle uska registration zile mein kiya jayega…. Pradesh se baahar jaana hai to zile mein registration hoga ki beta kahaan ja raha hai, beti kahaan ja rahi hai… ”
Here I’ve put in boldface the half the place he talks about little children, in addition to the masculine types of the verbs he utilized in his sentences. He was at all times speaking about each little children.
After this, he launched right into a minute of rationalization of how the coverage would serve and defend girls. Why would he do this? Perhaps as a result of he was talking at an occasion known as “Samman,” a fortnight-long consciousness program about crimes in opposition to girls.
That was all there was to this story. But who will inform the feminists who’re decided to make this the most important girls’s rights battle of this technology?
Incidentally, the Indian state has numerous insurance policies that you might see as paternalistic in the direction of girls. For occasion, rebates on stamp responsibility, property tax, barely cheaper loans and so forth. Even Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) from the federal government are typically made into the accounts of ladies within the family. We won’t even get into legal guidelines on home violence or sexual harassment which aren’t gender-neutral. Till now, these have principally been thought to be optimistic measures, essential for the empowerment of ladies. But in the event you needed, you might flip it round on its head, and argue that they’re paternalistic in the direction of girls. A girl can earn her cash as a lot as a person. Does she actually need a less expensive mortgage to purchase a home?
But that’s a a lot greater, extra nuanced argument. And it had nothing to do with what Shivraj Singh Chouhan had proposed. His plan was gender-neutral.
Are there authentic privateness considerations right here concerning the Madhya Pradesh authorities proposal? Probably, for each women and men. But once more, that’s a totally separate debate, having nothing to do with sexism or patriarchy.
But feminists and liberals didn’t appear to care. They simply needed to scratch their itch in opposition to the BJP.
At the chance of being accused of being paternalistic (or worse), I’ve a humble suggestion for all of the feminists on the market. The legal guidelines on this nation permit a Muslim girl to inherit solely half of what sons are entitled to. The legal guidelines on this nation permit for little one marriage of Muslim ladies. And the legal guidelines even defend feminine genital mutilation of infants in sure Indian Muslim communities. Perhaps we will all come collectively and lift our voices in opposition to that. It is 2021. You haven’t any excuse.