Women have largely participated indirectly in political struggles. Their direct participation in the farmers’ agitation is due to the efforts of the unions. Harinder Bindu is the state president of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) women’s wing. She has been fighting for the rights of the labourers and farmers for the last 30 years.
When I called her on the phone, she was getting ready for the day’s meetings. Our conversation took place during this hectic moment. Her family had received land in the 1950s, during the PEPSU Muzara movement, and today corporations eagerly await the opportunity to occupy it. She is determined to turn back this reversal of history.
Bindu assumed full organisational leadership of four districts during the initial months of lockdown. She readily undertook the establishment of new units and initiated meetings and activities. In this process, she never experienced that as a woman leader she isn’t taken seriously. In fact, the male members are proud to see an exceptional woman as a leader of their union, and the women are assured that their gender is not an obstacle to their advancement in leadership roles.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
Partnership
Months before the farm Bills were passed, the Ugrahan union had already begun organising meetings and committees especially for women in villages, blocks and districts. The block committees went from village to village to set up new units and to conduct training sessions for families so that the men would take up domestic duties when the women were away to participate in meetings. The women were trained according to their interests and confidence, and assigned responsibility at par with the men. The male union leaders were encouraged to include the women in their families so as to set an example for other union members to involve their families.
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It is because of these efforts that women are prominently visible in this movement. Those women who are unable to attend due to household obligations, are contributing by making pinni sweets, knitting sweaters and preparing food. In addition, they are politically mobilising other women in their homes, neighbourhoods and villages. Compared to young men, there are certainly fewer young women/wives at the Delhi protest. However, women are actively participating in the movement on the ground in Punjab.
Political change
The women in the villages are now confident that no matter which government is in power, they will be able to find a solution to any problem on their own as long as they are united.
Earlier, people used to knock on the doors of the political parties in power, they used to plead. Now people have realised that political power is in their hands and not the political parties. The people understand who the Ambani/Adani corporations are, why the corporations want contract farming, and how contract farming will dispossess them of their land. The people recognise the corporate plot to control the nation’s natural resources and developed infrastructure, and how the corporate houses are buying off ruling parties . The people also understand that schools, hospitals and railways are collectively owned. The land and harvests are our own. The people have developed a sense of belonging to this collective wealth as well as a desire to protect it.
Differences
Men and women are seen as different in society. But we need to understand that men and women are not each other’s enemies; the enemy is the historically unequal societal structure. When we become conscious of this and become united, then we will also be able to change it. The union leaders’ commendable behaviour and interactions with women have established an example for the other members.
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It is an accomplishment of the farmers’ protest that it has erased these historical differences. Women and men have chosen to unite against a common enemy. There are some families that are only represented by their women members in the protest, and now men do not question or doubt women who venture out on their own. Women and men do not have just one mode of relationship, and people have become aware of this as they struggle together and fight side by side against the government. The women have created a new space for themselves in their homes and their unions. Change that would take years has come about in a matter of months.
This article was originally published in Trolley Times, a newspaper established by the protesting farmers.