Is Uma a victim of male chauvinism?

New Delhi: Uma Bharti has always been on a collision course with the powerful men of the BJP and the Sangh parivar.

Famously banging the phone down on Venkaiah Naidu, dashing off letters to the powerful Sangh General Secretary, Suresh Soni and openly defying the Sangh leadership in front of television cameras at Advani's disciplinary meeting, Uma is famous for her temper tantrums and unpredictable behaviour.

People feel the fiery sanyasin's clash with the male supremos of the two parties could be a reason for her fall from grace. Many feel that she is hated because she is aggressive but more importantly because she is a woman.

"The male dominated BJP discriminates against me because I am an OBC (Other Backward Class) and a woman," she says.

Two years ago when the BJP swept to power in Madhya Pradash, Uma was made the state's Chief Minister. She resigned embarked on her now famous Tiranga yatra, after a court case in Karnataka over a flag-hoisting incident at the Idgah Maidan.

Uma says that the BJP's decision to make Shivraj Chauhan the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is undemocratic.

However the post of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is one that she has desired ever since.

But with Shivraj Singh Chauhan anointed Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti has lost the coveted post again and is sulking.

Nonetheless the fact of the matter remains that Uma Bharti is one of the few high-profile women in the BJP and with the exception of her, Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, the rest of the women in the party are mostly relegated to secondary roles.

In fact, with the exception of Uma, all other six general secretaries are men.

The RSS is exclusively male, women are not allowed into RSS headquarters at Jhandewalan and cannot attend the prestigous guru dakshina ? an annual tradition of the BJP.

RSS supremo M S Golwalkar once said that the primary duty of Hindu women was to answer the call of motherhood and unfortunately except Uma, most of Hindutva's women seem to be sticking to that job description.

Uma Bharti is the only stormy petrel among a group of men who have no love lost for her.

(With Smitha Nair in New Delhi)