Sreelatha M.

Shama Mohammad, AICC spokesperson and now over a decade in politics, knows all too well the obstacles women face in Indian politics. The numbers speak for themselves: despite the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, no Muslim woman from Congress was given a Lok Sabha ticket in 2024, and only two serve as MLAs nationally.

“The biggest obstacles for a woman to progress or survive in politics, especially in Kerala, are men,” she says bluntly. “When I started my journey in Kerala district politics, men in the party felt I can’t make it. And when I started making it, they didn’t like it.”

Shama lists three roadblocks on her way: “First, I am not a dynast, second, I am a woman, and third, I’m a Muslim.”

Unlike Congress, Muslim women like Sofia Firdous in Odisha or Kaneez Fatima in Karnataka, both backed by political families, Shama has no dynastic support. “You won’t find a single Muslim woman in politics who is fighting her way ahead on her own,” she says.

While a party like the Trinamul Congress has actively promoted women — with three out of its five MPs in West Bengal being women — Congress continues to lag,” she adds. (Trinamul Congress has the highest representation of women in Lok Sabha at 38 per cent compared to 13 per cent women by Congress and BJP.)

Her journey into politics didn’t happen overnight. A dentist and then a reporter with ZEE News, Shama grew up in Kuwait, watching debates on BBC, Al Jazeera and other channels with her father, who was passionate about world affairs. “The interest I have today is inherent, as politics is ingrained in my family,” she says.

Known today as a feisty and articulate spokesperson, she developed her political voice over years of actively taking an interest in national and international news, watching and then taking part in media debates, and later, hands-on work in Kerala district politics.

Her media career eventually brought her closer to politics. “I remember watching Manish Sharma, Abhishek Manu Singhvi — my colleagues in AICC now — fighting it out in a war of words on TV evening after evening,” she recalls.

While her job at ZEE News didn’t give her much chance to cover politics, her colleagues recognised her passion, and one of them sent her to meet Randeep Surjewala in the Congress media department. She was soon working for the party, travelling between Pune, where her husband and children were, and Delhi for television debates. “There was no Zoom or Skype then; one had to be physically present for the debates,” she says.

Amidst her work in the media department, she also decided to start working at the district level for the party in her home state of Kerala. But that came with its own challenges.  “All this took a huge toll on my children,” she admits. Her elder son was just 14, and her younger was 11 at the time. “But work meant leaving them even as my husband was away in Abu Dhabi again.” Balancing family and political ambitions was a struggle, yet she persisted.

Despite the hurdles, Shama’s commitment to change pushed her on. “I came to politics because I saw rapists, extortionists, and other anti-social elements in Parliament, and we only complain without doing anything about it. So, I wanted to be part of the change,” she says. As a Muslim, she has faced criticism for her faith and assumptions about her patriotism. But this has only made her more resilient: “Because I’m a Muslim, I have to go to Pakistan, I’m a jihadi, I’m anti-national… and I have to take all this,” she adds.

While her progress within the party remains limited due to patriarchy, Shama has turned her energy to grassroots work in Kannur, Kerala, through her Zoya Charitable Trust. “Why I came to politics was to help people, and my trust is in doing precisely that,” she says.

The trust, started in 2018, initially focused on renovating schools, especially following the floods of 2019. It has recently launched a sports school in the district, best known for athlete PT Usha, and another sports school is coming up with funding from the Panchsheel Group, a real estate group. Beyond sports, the trust works on healthcare, education, and women’s empowerment.

Asked what she would like to change about Congress, Shama doesn’t hold back: “Give more tickets to women. Give capable and hardworking women representation as the TMC does.” She knows change is slow, but remains undeterred. “Kerala has 51 per cent women, and if I’m sidelined, I take it as a challenge,” she says. For Shama, being a Muslim and a woman in politics is not just a struggle; it’s a motivation for her to keep pushing, both within her  party and through her work at the grassroots.

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With Kerala heading once again into election mode, the left-led coalition and the Congress-led coalition will be pitted against each other. Whether her words and vision for women’s representation in politics will become reality remains to be seen, but Shama Mohammad continues her journey, determined to make a difference.