Indian bar dancers to seek office

By Monica Chadha
BBC News, Mumbai

In Mumbai bars, women danced and clients threw money

Jobless bar dancers in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) say they will fight forthcoming municipal elections to gain a foothold in government.

The women hope this will help overturn a ban imposed on them in 2005.

More than 100,000 women employed in about 1,400 dance bars across Maharashtra state lost their jobs under the state government ban.

Authorities say the bars are breeding grounds for crime and prostitution and they corrupt young people.

'Support'

The president of the Maharashtra Bar Owners' Association, Manjit Singh Sethi, told the BBC that if they had representation in the government, the ban would not have been imposed.

We realised that people were with us and not against us Manjit Singh Sethi, Bar Owners' Association

"We had no voice anywhere so we felt that we needed to have some sort of representation in the state's municipal corporation and the legislative assembly.

"We plan to fight these elections with all our might and try to get in as many candidates as possible," he said.

Mr Sethi said they received great encouragement when a former bar dancer and bar owner won civic elections in the past.

"When they won, we realised that people were with us and not against us," he said.

Mr Sethi said they would pick as candidates those who were related to the dance bar industry, such as former dancers, bar owners and other staff.

The municipal elections are due on 1 February.

'Positive step'

The ban, which is currently before the Supreme Court, left many bar dancers unemployed.

Some returned to their home towns, others took up prostitution to fend for themselves or moved to other states in search of work.

The president of the Indian Bar Dancers' Association, Varsha Kale, says many bar dancers have expressed a desire to enter politics and fight for themselves as well as others.

She says this was a positive step, but warned that the dancers may not taste victory in this round.

"There is very little time [before elections] and many of the former bar girls have been jobless for a very long time. So the kind of time and power required to win elections is not there," she says.

Ms Kale, however, says given more time the dancers will certainly win positions of power.