Women Power Spurs BJP To Huge Win

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) stupendous success across the Hindi heartland was built on the back of the party's painstaking outreach to a key demographic that had often been ignored in electoral calculations but one that has emerged as a critical bellwether over the past decade-women.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Since it came to power at the Centre in 2014, the BJP has aggressively courted women as a separate voter base, distinct from the traditional political outreach that are done on the basis of caste or faith. The party was quick to realise that women could tilt a close election in its favour, and focused on welfare schemes for social and political empowerment as well as political representation, particularly for women from socially marginalised groups.

Acknowledgement of this solid support base came from none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday evening.

"Women believe only the BJP can provide guarantee for their security, safety and dignity. I want to assure women that all promises made to them will be fulfilled 100 per cent; this is Modi's guarantee," the PM said.