THE MAHILA AGHADI: THE SHIV SENA WOMEN AND URBAN POLITICS

Abstract

The paper takes into account the urban poor and political patronage with changing contours of ‘violence’ in Mumbai through the work of Shiv Sena’s women wing Mahila Aghadi. The paradoxical emancipation and empowerment of women within the patriarchal fold brings women to the public sphere realizing the benefits of collective violence simultaneously redefining the term social service with respect to legitimacy gained by coercive acts marking them as cases of ‘political violence’ rather than mere criminal acts. The significance of this study is that it provides insights into the informal interaction of urban poor with the state to access state security and the role of informal institutions such as Mahila Aghadi in widening the access to public space for women. The paper argues that it is the informal institutions established through political brokerage that provide the grey area for urban poor to become less vulnerable. While the state is not present everywhere, willingly or unwillingly, but the perception of state and discourse around it is inevitable and omnipresent.

Keywords

violence, state, informal institutions, mahila aghadi, urban politics

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To cite this article

Kamini Sharma. (2019). The Mahila Aghadi: The Shiv Sena Women and Urban Politics. John Foundation Journal of EduSpark, 1(3), 15-27.