Telangana Tops National Mahila Congress Membership Drive

Hyderabad: Despite the Congress government in Telangana rolling out women-centric welfare schemes such as Mahalakshmi and Gruha Jyothi, the ongoing membership drive of the Telangana Mahila Congress, the party’s women's wing, has seen only 7,061 women take membership till 9 am on Tuesday.

Even so, Telangana leads the country in women’s membership, according to the data released by All India Mahila Congress.

The membership drive, which began on September 15, is set to continue until September 30. No other state comes close to Telangana’s figures, with Assam trailing at distant second place with 2,391 members, followed by Karnataka (2,238), Kerala (1,981), Maharashtra (1,630), Uttar Pradesh (1,264), Tamil Nadu (960), Rajasthan (918), Puducherry (878), and Madhya Pradesh (804).

Telangana Mahila Congress leaders are optimistic about the membership numbers picking up, noting that this is the first time the Congress high command has launched a special membership drive for the Mahila Congress across the country.

Leaders stressed that it was unfair to compare the Mahila Congress membership drive with the Congress’ broader membership drive, as it was exclusively focused on women. They further highlighted that the Congress in Telangana had around 55 lakh members, with over 25 lakh of those being women.

The last Congress membership drive in Telangana took place between November 2021 and April 2022. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Telangana Mahila Congress president Mogili Sunitha Rao pointed out that the INC membership drive ran for five-and-a-half months in offline and online formats, while the Mahila Congress membership drive was digital and spanned just 15 days.

“It took a week to raise awareness among our party’s members and women regarding the digital enrollment. By Tuesday, we are approaching the 8,000-member mark, and we aim to cross 20,000 by the end of the drive on September 30. These numbers are encouraging, considering Telangana is the only state with such a high enrollment, and no other state comes close," Sunitha Rao said.

“All women who join the Mahila Congress will undergo a three-day leadership training programme, which we plan to start soon,” she stated.

Since the enactment of the 33 percent women's reservation law, Sunitha Rao emphasised that while the law exists, it is yet to be implemented. “We continue to put pressure on the central government to enforce the women’s reservation law. Once implemented, it will provide opportunities for women to contest elections and participate in decision-making as MLAs and MPs,” she said.

The Women Leadership Training Programme will be introduced at the state level, with state presidents, state executives, district presidents, and block presidents required to undergo the training. Sunitha Rao explained that this training will not only help women build the party but also enable them to successfully contest elections and win.