Bengaluru: A coalition of 30 women’s organisations and feminist groups under the banner of Naveddu Nilladiddare, Karnataka, on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, sharply criticising the exclusion of women from the newly expanded state Cabinet and demanding immediate corrective action by inducting women ministers.
The letter, titled Is This No State for Women?, described the all-male Cabinet as “not an oversight, but a political choice” that sends a message that women and their leadership remain dispensable in the exercise of state power.
The organisations said they had earlier expressed concern when the first Cabinet under Shivakumar was formed without a single woman minister but had hoped the Cabinet expansion would address the imbalance. Instead, they said, the expansion has further entrenched the exclusion.
Stating that women constitute nearly half of Karnataka’s electorate, the groups argued that the Congress party had received significant electoral support from women in the 2023 Assembly elections. They noted that the party won more than half of the 52 Assembly constituencies where women voters outnumbered men, making the absence of women in the Cabinet even more glaring.
The organisations said the decision contradicts the Congress party’s stated commitment to women’s empowerment, pointing to its support for the Women’s Reservation Act and its organisational promise of providing 33 per cent representation to women.
They asserted that women are already leading panchayats, municipalities, self-help groups, trade unions, civil society organisations, academia and businesses, but remain excluded from the state’s highest decision-making body.
The letter further stated that denying women representation in the Council of Ministers undermines the constitutional principles of equality, dignity and equal opportunity while reinforcing patriarchal assumptions about political power.
It also referred to reports that Congress MLC Gayathri Shanthegowda’s name had figured in the list of likely ministers before being dropped from the final Cabinet, arguing that such developments indicate women’s leadership is treated as expendable in political negotiations.
Recalling Shivakumar’s earlier Naa Nayaki initiative aimed at encouraging women’s leadership, the organisations said it now appeared to have been reduced to Naa Nayaka, with leadership reserved exclusively for men.
They urged the Chief Minister to immediately induct qualified women into the Cabinet and ensure that the government’s commitment to gender equality is reflected in the actual distribution of political power rather than remaining an election promise.
The signatories said they would continue to hold the government accountable until women’s equal participation in political power is treated as a constitutional obligation rather than an act of charity.
The open letter has been endorsed by 30 organisations, including women’s groups, labour unions, transgender and intersex collectives, gender rights organisations and other civil society bodies from across Karnataka.
