'Politics Is Changing. It's Becoming Safer And Safer For Women'

'People in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people.'
'Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you.'

The 18th Lok Sabha will have four members who are between 25 and 26 -- Shambhavi (25), the Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas Paswan)'s MP from Samastipur; Sanjna Jatav (26), the Congress's MP from Bharatpur; Priya Saroj (25), the Samajwadi Party's MP from Machhlishahr; Pushpendra Saroj (25), the Kaushambhi MP also from the Samajwadi Party.

Shambhavi -- Narendra D Modi called her the 'Youngest NDA candidate' during his rally in Bihar's Darbhanga -- who did her master's in sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and graduation from the Lady Shri Ram College spoke to Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com about her debut in Parliament, her development roadmap for Samastipur, the women Parliamentarians she is looking forward to meet.

• Meet The Youngest Dalit Lady Candidate

You will be among the four youngest MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha. As a contestant, what were the challenges that you had to overcome to win from Samastipur?

I started my campaign from Samastipur 45 days before the voting day. My team and I would toil for almost 15-16 hours every day. Since we fought as a part of the NDA it was only natural that we spoke about the body of work that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did in his two terms since 2014.

Nobody in India today can deny that there was a Modi factor in each and every constituency and we were asking people to vote for him for the third time.

We also focused on the good work done by our Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas Paswan)'s chief Chirag Paswan. Apart from the national manifesto of the NDA, the manifesto of the LJP (RP), we also released a local manifesto for Samastipur.

This manifesto clearly outlined what I would do as Samastipur's MP. Ours is a farmer-dominated belt and our manifesto talked about welfare schemes for farmers, development of agrotech and software sector in the region. We would talk about these development programmes in every meeting and public rallies we held in those 45 days.

I believe I have put in a lot of hard work because of which the people of Samastipur elected me with a huge margin.

As one of India's youngest MPs, what will be your message for your voters and constituency?

When I toured my constituency for the first few days, I kept telling them that they used to look at me and think that I'm too young to do this. I always used to tell them that 'I have come here as a daughter (Shambhavi's father Ashok Choudhary is a Bihar minister and a friend of Nitish Kumar; her grandfather Mahavir Choudhary was a minister in the then Congress government). Accept me as your daughter first and only then can you see a Parliamentarian in me. You need to develop a heart to heart connection with me.'

That's very important because people in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people. Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you, how many people can you get in your club and this club is meeting that club.

In this scenario I tried to establish a heart to heart connection with my voters. This is the only thing that worked for me. Being young, I was very actively -- physically, mentally, emotionally -- involved in my election campaign.

How did you convince the voters in your constituency that even if you were to be a young Parliamentarian you have the potential to do justice to their faith in you?

I think they were definitely looking for a new face. They were very excited and enthusiastic about it. For the first time, if you enter a new area and be like, I want your vote, they will not be convinced.

Like I said earlier, I tried to talk to them about the vision that I had for Samastipur, about the development that I wanted to do. And there was a fair share of confidence among the voters that the NDA was coming back to power.

In that sense there was a clear mandate among the people to elect the NDA. They were very clear in their mind that this is the side that they want to vote for.

Our manifesto was like the icing on the cake. And it worked for me well. That is why people elected me with such a large margin -- the second highest margin (of 187,251 votes) in Bihar.

My voters were convinced about my abilities and they accepted me wholeheartedly as their daughter.

What will be your feelings like when you will enter Parliament, when you will be looked at as one of the four youngest Parliamentarians among a hall full of stalwarts?

Honestly, I am very, very excited and overwhelmed at the same time. I am trying to find the right pace to manage all my emotions right now, because I think I have a big responsibility and to deliver that responsibility I should be able to manage my emotions well.

It will be a very good learning experience. I will get to learn, and I think I will get the opportunity to take something from my culture to them. I will try to make that space and contribute in a positive way.

I will ensure that the aura of the august House remains sacrosanct and every Parliamentarian gets the opportunity to express herself without any fear, intimidation or awe of the stalwarts.

I would also like to create an environment where every Parliamentarian gets a chance to express herself without being heckled.

As a young Parliamentarian I naturally have the responsibility to look after the welfare of my constituents and I realise those responsibilities. But I have responsibilities also as a young Dalit woman in Parliament. I will only hope, I can only pray that I work hard and live up to everybody's expectations.

I'm in Delhi today (June 5) and have already started interacting with the people here trying to establish a connection over here, trying to establish a friendly environment so that working here becomes easier.

I'm already at it. I'm not waiting for the right time. The right time is now.

If you have the zeal, the enthusiasm to work for your people, you will definitely be able to do that.

What will be the most challenging for you to do as one of the youngest MPs?

After the rigours of the election campaign, I feel that whatever challenges may come, I will be able to face all of them. I don't know what those challenge will be right now. Till now I have not come across a challenge that has deterred my will to work for the people. I don't think there would be any challenge that would sway me away from my goal.

All I wish to do is work honestly, wholeheartedly and in a committed way for my people. And God bless me with the strength and power to overcome any challenge.

Do you think you will be part of the next government?

I don't have any personal aspirations or goals as such. Whatever my party decides, whatever my leader Mr Chirag Paswan decides, I would agree with him wholeheartedly and truly support all his decisions.

I'm really humbled by the opportunity that the people of the country have given us a clear mandate. Mr Narendra Modiji is going to hit a hat-trick this time which is historic. I am lucky and blessed to be witnessing this history and being able to play a small role in this historic win.

How did this constituency come to you? How were you chosen for this responsibility?

I expressed my will to contest. I am a Dalit woman and we have six reserved seats in Bihar. Lok Janshakti Party got three reserved seats out of which one was being contested by Mr Chirag Paswan.

The other seat was Samastipur. My husband's (Saayan Kunal, son of former IPS officer Acharya Kishore Kunal) native place is Samastipur. This constituency is centrally located in Bihar and it has a lot of scope for development.

I thought that it would do both of us justice if both of us -- the constituency and I -- are connected. There's a lot of scope in Samastipur to work.

There is a huge scope for development of agrotech industries, software-based industries. It is an area which has not really flourished the way it should have with time.

I always thought that if there is one constituency that I would like to work for, it would be Samastipur, because it's needs development and a young woman to represent it.

I'm very glad that Samastipur chose me as their MP.

Have you chalked out a five year plan for development of Samastipur as its MP?

I released an election manifesto for my constituency.

It was a very interesting process because we launched a Web portal where we connected with a lot of people from different parts of the constituency, and they shared their suggestions.

We had a team that was working on those suggestions and we rounded off the suggestions that we could accomplish in the coming five years. Basically all these issues were related to connectivity, infrastructure, education, health, the farmers' situation over here, agricultural development and about the migrant labourers.

There are some long pending promises that have been made by other Parliamentarians who were there before me, and the promises have yet not been fulfilled. I plan to fulfill all those promises, be it regarding connectivity.

There are a few flyovers and bypasses that they've been asking for since a long time; there are still some villages that are not properly connected to the main town.

It's not just about building roads. It's about connecting people, about facilities reaching to the villages at the right time, facilities that are crucial, like education and health.

Sick people can't reach the hospital on time. Young people are not being able to get proper education. Girls are suffering in education because the villages are not properly connected.

Connectivity and development is not just about beautification of a place. It's about delivering basic necessities to remote villages.

These are some of the things that I plan to work on, and I do have a roadmap ready. Let's see, how much I can achieve in the coming five years.

What would be your message to India's youth, especially young women, who would want to join politics, who would want to actively participate in India's development using politics as a tool?

No dream is small; everybody has different aspirations, different dreams, and every dream, every aspiration is important to the person.

Whatever you have in mind for yourself, have the strength and the courage to fulfill it for yourself, because it's important for your own mental peace. It'll definitely make you very happy.

About the women who want to be in politics, I would say that the political situation in the country is changing. I think I am an example of it.

Being a young Dalit woman, I've got the opportunity to enter the Lok Sabha. I wish that more and more girls in politics come up so that I also get the strength to voice their thoughts, their concerns. I would encourage everybody to be a part of it.

Politics is changing. The political situation is changing. It's becoming safer and safer for women. I would request everybody to actively participate in politics, which just does not mean contesting elections.

Political participation means active participation in voting, active participation in voicing their opinions. Come forward, talk to us about what you want.

That's the only way we can connect, and that's the only way your dreams and your aspirations can reach somebody like me who can then raise them in Parliament.

So it's important for everybody to be vocal about their needs and their aspirations.

Women MPs you look forward to meet in the 18th Lok Sabha, and women MPs who inspired you?

I am really inspired by Smriti Iraniji. Unfortunately, she lost (from Amethi). I was really looking forward to meeting her in Parliament. She did really good work for her constituency.

I am looking forward to meet Bansuri Swaraj (South Delhi's BJP MP and the late Sushma Swaraj's daughter) because she's an excellent orator. She has been able to deliver a lot of work very positively. She has a very different way of connecting to the people, connecting to the media. She is very witty. I definitely look forward to meeting her.

And, of course, we have a star in Parliament now, Kangana Ranaut. She is also somebody who's very fiercely vocal and has been able to talk (defend) about our (Modi) government in a very fierce way. It would be nice if all the women Parliamentarians could come together.

Any non-BJP, non-NDA woman MP who you would look forward to meet?

Supriya Sule. I've been closely following her for many years.

There is no mention of your last name in your affidavit. Why?

I do prefer to use my first name, but a lot of people in my state still know me as Shambhavi Choudhary. They call me Shambhavi Choudhary. There is no specific reason for it.

When I was young, my parents wanted to not put the family surname and put a more neutral surname like Bhagyashree or something like that. I think later they forgot to put a surname over there.

Now that I'm older and an adult, I believe that surname only ends up reinforcing the entire caste identity again. I'm also really looking forward to adopting a new neutral surname; something that does not identify me as only belonging to a particular caste.

Now that I'm a young woman Parliamentarian, I want more and more young people to resonate with me. It can't happen if I'm suffixed to one caste. I feel privileged that I'm one of the very few Dalit women who would get this opportunity. I really do aim for working for the marginalised sections of the society.

I don't want to be identified as somebody (based on my caste). I don't want to reinforce the caste barriers is all I can say.

• INDIA VOTES, 2024