Prgatisheel Mahila Sangathan shows solidarity with farmers by organising a gathering of women activists at Ghazipur border
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The farmers protesting on the borders of Delhi for months marked Women’s Day Monday with a women centric event in which women addressed the farmers and discussed issues about the place of women in agriculture in particular and in society in general.
Throughout the day the women managed the stage, arranged food and security and shared tales of their struggles on the occasion.
The biggest gathering was witnessed at Tikri border where women held a conference near Pakora chowk.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at different sites along the border of Delhi for over 100 days, demanding withdrawal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for their crops.
Women-wing leader of BKU(Ugrahan), Harinder Bindu and Parmjit Kaur Pitho who addressed the gathering, termed the role of women in the present protest movement as “exemplary”.
Addressing the conference, prominent human rights activist and daughter of late playwright Gursharn Singh, discussed the role of women in different social and political struggles in the history of our country. She said, “The present fascist government has been carrying out the most harsh attacks on the rights of women”.
A similar gathering was organised at Ghazipur border protest site. Women from all walks of life such as factory workers, domestic help, homemakers ,lawyers and office-going women assembled under the banner of Prgatisheel Mahila Sangathan (PMS) Delhi at the protest site. They held banners and placards and raised slogans, like “Repeal 3 farm laws,” “Withdraw EB 2020,” “Down with corporatization,” “Long live women farmers struggle”, etc.
Poonam Kaushik, who is the general secretary of the PMS, said that this year the organisation decided to show support to the farmers who are fighting against the “fascist forces and tightening shackles of corporatisation”.
She said they visited the protest site to show solidarity with women farmers who have been sitting alongside men for over three months at the borders of the national capital in protest against the three farm laws.
Some women painted ‘protest’ slogan on their palms with mehendi.
Harshman Kaur, one of the women farmers sharing the stage, said: “While some women harvesters are present on the stage, there are others who are on a hunger strike. We have sported mehendi on our hands with the ‘protest’ slogan. We have given a new dimension to the movement.”
“The participation of women has increased significantly with the arrival of scores of women,” said Kaur.
