Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday, 13 June 2026, addressed a gathering of women intellectuals at a Prabuddh Varg Sammelan (Intellectuals' Conference) held in Dharmpur, Uttarakhand, asserting that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership over the past 12 years, women have been recognised not as a vote bank but as a leading force of democracy and nation-building.

Context

Posting on X, Minister Shekhawat wrote that 'nari shakti ko kewal vote bank nahin, balki loktantra aur rashtra nirman ki agrani shakti ke roop mein samman mila hai' — meaning women's power has been honoured not merely as a vote bank, but as the foremost force of democracy and nation-building. He added that matrushakti (mother-power or women collectively) is playing 'the most important and inspiring role' in realising the vision of a Viksit Bharat (Developed India). The post was accompanied by four images from the event and tagged under #12YearsOfSeva, the BJP's campaign marking 12 years of the Modi government.

The Prabuddh Varg Sammelan format is a structured outreach initiative through which the Bharatiya Janata Party engages educated and professional sections of society. This edition in Dharmpur specifically convened women intellectuals for what Shekhawat described as a 'meaningful dialogue' (sarthak samvad).

Policy Backdrop

The minister's remarks are grounded in a series of legislative and programmatic milestones under the BJP-led central government. In September 2023, Parliament passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies — a landmark constitutional amendment that the ruling party has consistently cited as evidence of its commitment to women's political participation.

Earlier, the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, launched in January 2015, set the tone by targeting the child sex ratio and promoting girls' education. The Viksit Bharat vision — aiming for a fully developed India by 2047 — has since become the overarching frame within which BJP leaders position women's empowerment as a development imperative rather than a welfare concession.

Stakeholders and Impact

The audience of women intellectuals and professionals in Uttarakhand represents a constituency the BJP has been cultivating as part of broader outreach ahead of electoral cycles. By framing women as agents of rashtra nirman (nation-building), the party seeks to deepen engagement with educated urban and semi-urban women who may influence opinion in their communities.

Shekhawat, a senior Lok Sabha MP from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, is a frequent face at such party outreach events across states, lending central-government weight to state-level organisational efforts. His presence at the Dharmpur event signals the importance the party attaches to Uttarakhand as a state where it holds government and seeks to consolidate its support base among women voters.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the implementation timeline of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, whose provisions are linked to a delimitation exercise that has yet to be completed. Women's groups and opposition parties have pressed the government for a firm schedule. At the state level, the Uttarakhand BJP unit is expected to continue the Prabuddh Varg Sammelan series, potentially announcing targeted women-specific programmes in the coming weeks. The broader #12YearsOfSeva campaign is likely to amplify similar messaging across states as the party marks its governance anniversary.