Wonder Women Leading Indians바카라� Battle

Baljeet Kaur loves Punjabi singers Kan­wal Gerewal and Babbu Mann and their soulful music. Gerewal바카라�s new song 바카라�Nahi Mukya Ghol Kisani바카라� has worked as a the­­rapy for the 28-year-old farmer leader from Punjab, who has been protesting, along with lakhs of farmers against the three farm laws passed by the Central government in September last year.

On November 19, when Prime Minister Nare­n­d­ra Modi made the announcement of repealing the three contentious farm laws, Baljeet Kaur was preparing for a weekly meeting with her colleag­u­es to chalk out plans for their march to Parliam­ent on the first-year anniversary of the farm pro­tests.

바카라�I felt proud that I was part of a historic protest, which we won,바카라� she beams. The farmers바카라� protest, touted as one of the largest in the history of Inde­pendent India, first erupted in Punjab after the farm bills were passed.

From a homemaker to a union leader, Kaur바카라�s world has changed in a drastic way over the last one year. A mother of three daughters, she deci­ded to leave the comforts of her home to join protesting farmers because 바카라�it was the question of our existence and I couldn바카라�t stop myself from joi­ning the agitation.바카라� After a year of joining Bha­rtiya Kisan Union (Krantikari), she has now risen to lea­dership position and is a member of the district committee of the union.

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In her village Makhu, in Ferozepur district of Punjab, Kaur holds a meeting of 50-odd women farmers every week. Though the meetings are mos­tly about mobilizing women for the protests in the Delhi borders, sometimes they veer into res­olving family feuds and concerns of women reg­arding work and wages.

With more women farmers joining the rank and file of protestors in large numbers, conversations about breaking the barriers of patriarchy are gett­ing louder too. 바카라�It바카라�s for the first time that women are getting a chance to share equal space with men. How can we hold ourselves back? Earlier, men used to tell women what to do. Now it바카라�s wom­en who teach others how to lead protests. Women have realised that if we can fight the gove­rnment and win, nothing is impossible,바카라� says Kaur.

The emergence of women leaders from the heartlands of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, is changing the political, social and gender equations, says Sukhwinder Kaur, state committee member of the BKU (Krantikari).

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바카라�We are seeing a huge number of women coming into leadership positions. Gender roles are also being reviewed inside families because of the churning. Women are also discussing other issues such as the right to land and wages. Menfolk have now recognised the power of women to lead the battle,바카라� says Kaur. Debates on addressing the concerns of the 바카라�invisible women farmer바카라� and the need to fight for her rights are happening for the first time.

Another farmer leader Rajbala Yadav, who hails from Rewari in Haryana, says that the huge presence of women in the ongoing protests is encouraging. 바카라�There is no doubt that women farmers work more than men and don multiple hats. Now that women have entered the leadership space, all these issues are being taken up,바카라� says Yadav.

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Social activist Medha Patkar who led the 바카라�Save Narmada Movement바카라�, says that though women far­mers play a great role in agriculture, several critical issues are yet to be addressed. 바카라�On Inter­national Women바카라�s Day, there were about 40,000 and more women moving around the protest sites at Delhi바카라�s borders. When they are not at the borders, they take care of the farm and the families. Slowly, they are coming into the leadership too,바카라� says Patkar.

Medha Patkar belongs to the league of women, who created history with their unique style of protest. Patkar spearheaded one of the longest prot­ests against dam projects across the Narmada River, which threatened to displace thousands of people. Whether it바카라�s Chipko Movement in 1973, or the Anti-Nuclear Protests in Tamil Nadu in 1980 or the Bhopal Disaster in 1984, women바카라�s role in leading these movements has been nothing short of phenomenal.

바카라�In any protests, the directly affected populati­ons are always at the forefront. That바카라�s true for farmers바카라� protests or anti-CAA agitations. Women have played a significant role in all the protests bec­ause it directly affects them,바카라� says Patkar.

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Though history is replete with instances where women played a key role in historic protests, the memory of iconic Shaheen Bagh protests is still fresh in the minds of people.

One of the longest sit-in protests, predominantly led by Muslim women, Shaheen Bagh has earned its place in history. The protest was hel­med by a handful of women in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, in mid-December 2019 against the Citi­zenship (Amendment) Act.

Saima Khan, who participated in the sit-in protest from the beginning, says that Shaheen Bagh has given a template for the future protests. She decided to join the protests after witnessing police brutality on the students of Jamia Milia Univer­sity, close to her house.

바카라�When CAA was passed in Parliament, I was sho­cked. This is my homeland. My grandparents and their ancestors all lived here. When I saw the violence against the students, I decided enough was enough,바카라� says the 34-year-old mother of four. Shaheen Bagh may have fallen sil­ent and the protest artwork may have been buried under coats of white paint, but the fire is still alive, says Khan.

바카라�We broke the myth that Muslim women are suppressed by our religion, that they don바카라�t raise their voice. We showed our power to the world through peaceful protests,바카라� she adds. Shaheen Bagh was a learning ground for Khan. It taught her how to fight bigotry and misogyny. And she discovered solidarity and identity through it.

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For another protestor바카라�Kahkashan Riyaz, the 101-day protest brought a new perspective to her life. From a homemaker to a full-time protestor, the journey has felt fulfilling to Riyaz. She feels that Shaheen Bagh showed the way for many others like her. 바카라�Shaheen Bagh will be a template for all the protests in the future. It바카라�s not about the outcome, but the way women led the sit-in,바카라� says the mother of two. The movement has produced umpteen women leaders. Women are continuing their fight, aligning with the agitating farmers and other like-minded forces, she says.  

바카라�During the anti-CAA protest, every woman was a leader, she wouldn바카라�t wait for anyone to lead her. She found her foothold. Shaheen Bagh has empo­wered us to lead our own battle. We can바카라�t be fearful and run away. If there바카라�s a second edition of Sha­heen Bagh, it will be even more powerful than its predecessor,바카라� says Riyaz.

While the anti-CAA protests saw huge participation of the student community, especially women, the subsequent crackdown by police and arrests of many students have sparked debates on the right to hold protests in a democratic manner.

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Safoora Zargar, a student at the Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi, was one of them. She was arrested by Delhi Police on charges of her 바카라�alleged role as conspirator바카라� behind the riots that broke out in North-East Delhi in February 2020. The 27-year-old was three months pregnant at the time of her arrest.

Zargar was charged under the Unlawful Activi­ties (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and kept in jail for over three months. 바카라�We were very hopeful of bail. But then we got to know that police had invo­ked UAPA against me. For a long time, I lost hope of getting bail. But people spoke for me. The State had to concede and I got relief from the courts. It shows the power of protests,바카라� says Zargar.

Her arrest sparked outrage and invited criticism from rights groups. After 75 days of ordeal in pri­son, Zargar was granted bail. She feels that incre­ased participation of women in protests will desexualise protests and provide women a platform to air their critical issues.  

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바카라�We saw women participating in huge numbers in Sha­heen Bagh. We also saw the same in the kisan andolan. I think increased participation of women has led to more gender-inclusive protests, especially in Shaheen Bagh, where women were also decision makers. It has enabled women to claim democratic spaces as their own,바카라� she says.

Zargar feels it바카라�s high time that protests be decri­minalised. 바카라�Though women led a powerful indefinite sit-in at Shaheen Bagh, they were made to feel morally and socially culpable. Do different people in India have different kinds of rig­hts to protest?바카라� she wonders. However, she feels hopeful with the government deciding to repeal the farm laws. 바카라�Protests are the lifeline of democracy. The climbdown of the government will tilt the power back towards the people,바카라� she says.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Wonder Women")

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