WQMEM AHU POLITICS IM MAHARASHTRA : THE EVOLUTION OF THE
RELATIQHSHIP BETWEEH WQMEM m i POLITICS
Maharashtra has a rich tradition of political participation of women. As early as aid-seventeenth century we find Jijabai, who inspired Shivaji to establish
Hindavi Swarajya. After Jijabai, we find the examples of
Tarabai, Umabai, Gopikabai, Anandibai, Ahilyabai Holkar and
Rani Laxmibai. (1)
Iii£ S.QCIQ-ECOHQMIC CQHDITIOHS
In pre-independence India, Maharashtra, or then Bonbay province, was second only to Bengal province regarding the level of socio-cultural development. (2). The political awakening of the Maharashtra women was the direct result of various socio-cultural movements. However, the social, psychological and familial restraints on women did not allow this political awakening to be translated into actual political participation. (3). In British India the condition of the women in Maharashtra was much better than their counterpart in the North. Women in Maharashtra did not follow 'Purdah', except in case of Maratha Vatandar families and due to this they had a greater opportunity for wider social interaction. (4). Even the standard of living enjoyed by the women in Maharashtra was higher, thanks to the prevalent Rayatwari system, wherein the entire family used to be involved in productive farming. (5). t J SOCIAL REFORMS HOVEHEHT :
We find two distinct parallels in the social reforms
movement in Maharashtra, a trend which more or less
continues even today, though with some variations :
1. The upper caste movement with the reformers like Gopal
Ganesh Agarkar, Maharshi D.K.Karve ,M.G.Ranade, Pandita
Ramabai, Ramabai Ranade et al.
2. The low caste movement with the reformers like Mahatma
Phule, Maharshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde, Savitribai Phule,
Tarabai Shinde et al.
Under the Marathas as well as the Peshwas, Pune was the
centre of political decision-making in Maharasthra. Though
Bombay enjoyed precedence over Pune in matters of socio cultural development, the extent and intensity of socio cultural movements in Bombay was surpassed by those in
Pune, mainly due to the social composition of those who participated in these movements. The Reforms Movement in
Bombay was primarily limited to the Parsis and the affluent
Hindus and did not percolate down to the common man (6).
On the other hand, many of the social reformers in Pune were
from the middle class and therefore were equally accessible
and acceptable to the masses as well as the elite.
Therefore, the movements in Pune rather than in Bombay are
likely to have had a greater impact on the over all socio
cultural and religious reforms in Maharashtra. Though
majority of the social reformers in Maharashtra were highly
educated Brahmins, Mahatma Phule, V.R.Shinde et al. took 5fi great efforts to widen the base of the noveiaent so as to
include the non-Brahmins as well as the so called
untouchables. Balshastri Jambhekar, Dadoba Pandurang,
Lokhitawadi, Mahatma Phule> V.R.Shinde, D.K.Karve,
G.G.Agarkar et al. accorded greatest priority to the
emancipation of women.
The social reforms movement in pre-independence India
focussed on various issues pertaining to women, e.g. widow
re-marriage, ban on child marriage, ban on 'Vidhwa
Keshavapan', education of women and the down-trodden etc.
Among the women, we find Savitribai Phule and Tarabai Shinde
from the non-Brahminn castes and Pandita Ramabai from the upper caste. The efforts of Pandita Ramabai did not get the
social sanction that they deserved as she had changed her
religion and people had doubts regarding her intentions.
They had certain reservations due to their fear that she may
try to convert their women relatives if those were entrusted
to her in her Sharada Sadan and Arya Mahila Samaj (7). The
efforts of Savitribai in education of women faced severe
opposition and people used to stone her and spit on her for
attempts in educating the women.
SURVEY QE EVEHTS THAT m i A DIRECT BEARIMQ OR Ili£ STATUS Q£
WQiiEii H i MAHARASHTRA :
The tradition of 'Sati' was legally prohibited in 1829.
In 1848, Mahatma Phule started a school for girls. By 1850
Savitribai Phule came to be known as the first woman teacher 57 in India. In 1853 the Railway train started commuting
between Bombay and Thane. This was a real breakthrough in
the traditional mode of transfport which increased the
mobility of people to a great extent. In 1854, widow
remarriage was legally sanctioned and within six years a
Gujarati widow remarried in Bombay. In 1857, the University
of Bombay was established. But it took nearly twenty years
to produce the first woman graduate. A Parsi girl named
Piroda Khurshadoi passed the entrance test of the University
and went for higher education. This was a totally new
trend. In 1860 Age of Consent Bill was passed and the minimum age formarriage was raised upto 10 years in case of
girls. In 1871, women in Pune established 'Vicharwati Stree
Sabha' under the initiative of Sarvajanik Kaka. The Sabha
must have set very ambitious goals before itself because
even a liberal publication like 'Jnanprakash'» which usually
used to take a very positive approach towards social
reforms, criticised the Sabha for 'dreaming of running when
one has yet to learn how to walk ' ! The Sabha did not
flourish much, probably because it set itself certain goals
for which the society was not yet prepared (8).
In 1882, Smt. Tarabai Shinde, an activist of
Stayashodhak Samaj wrote an essay titled "Stree Purush
Tulana", wherein she bravely compared the duel sets of
behavioural norms that are applied to men and women,
invariably to the disadvantage of women. In the same year,
Pandita Ramabai established Arya Mahila Sabha. She had a 58 deep insight in the problems of women and took concrete steps to solve those problems. Though one is likely to feel that her work was primarily of social nature rather than political, one must admit that nothing is completely apolitical, more so, when a country is under foreign rule.
Padita used to insist that if a man wants to listen to her speech, he should be accompanied by at least one woman in the public meeting. This enabled the women to come out of their houses and participate in public life (9). In 1883
Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve started Mahilashram at Hingne.
A daily, 'Sudharak', was continuously propogating the liberal thought of Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. In 1883, primary school was started by the Pune Municipality to impart education to both boys and girls on co-education basis (10).
In 1893 Savitribai Phule became the president of
'Satyashodhak Samaj parishad' (11). Haharshi Vitthal Ramji
Shinde, a Maratha social reformer took great efforts for the upliftment of the downtrodden. He became concerned in the problem of the education of women by his personal experience. His sister Janakka was a destitute woman. He wanted to admit her in the 'Sharada sadan' of Pandita
Ramabai. But he was told that she will not be allowed to go home for five years nor will she be allowed to see any relatives during this period. He was afraid that this may lead to her conversion to Christianity, so he decided to enroll her in the Mahilashram started by Maharshi D.K.Karve at Hingne. However, she did not get admission to the 59 Hahilashran because Maharshi D.K.Karve was of the opinon. that the time was not yet ripe for the education of non-
Br*hffiins. Vitthal Ramji Shinde, who Later cane to be known as Maharshi, was very much hurt by this and started working for the cause of the lower castes. In 1910, the Depressed
Class Mission tried to awaken the people about the vices of the tradition of " Dev Dasi " at the time of Jejuri pilgrimage (12). In 1935, the 'Sakesha' widows got social sanction when they were allowed to touch the idol of Lord
Vithoba at Pandharpur (13),
THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT:
The year 1885 presented the greatest landmark in the history of India's freedom struggle. In this year, the
Indian National Congress was established in Bombay. After the establishment of the Congress the line of demarcation between 'social' and 'political' became slightly visible.
Several fragmented groups assembled under the umbrella of the Congress and in course of time, the Congress flourished to such an extent that participation in the Congress was considered as participation in mainstream politics. In the
Congress women found a platform for their participation.
Though not a single woman was present at the first session of Congress, Sir Allen Hume had realised the importance of participation of women. He cautioned the political forces that unless the elevation of women of the nation proceeds, all the efforts for political 60 enfranchisement of people will remain fruitless. In 1889
Charles Bradley, the then M.P. in the British parliament
wrote to Pandita Ramabai and suggested that the Indian
National Congress was going to be the future parliament of
India, so it would be wise to get associated with it at the
earliest juncture. He advised her to send some women delegates to attend the session of Congress. Pandita
Ramabaia realised the importance of this suggestion and
tried her best to get some women delegates elected.
However, all her efforts in Pune remained fruitless due to
the severe opposition of Justice M .G. Ranade. Even Ramabai
Ranade refused to attend the session. But Pandita Ramabai was not discouraged. She went to Bombay and elected four representatives on behalf of the Arya Mahila Sabha. She
also selected four representatives on behalf of Women's
Temperance League in Bombay. However, the remaining four
representatives were not from Maharashtra. Rashitai
Kanitkar, Shevanta Nikube and Shanta Nilkanth were among
those who attended the session under the leadership of pandita Ramabai. The numbe of women delegates in this
session remained the highest for many of the following
sessions. In the 1895 Pune session there was only one woman
delegate, Kum. Kelkar from Fergusson College (14).
In the meantime, there were certain social issues
pertaining to the women which led to social unrest. The
year 1891 witnessed the controversy regarding the raising
the age of consent from 12 years to 13 years. Though there 61 was nothing revolutionary about increasing the age by one year, as it was already raised from 10 years to 12 in the past 30 years, the controversy became very intense. Pandita
Ramabai and others openly favoured the Bill that was introduced to the Madras Council due to the efforts of
Malbari Seth. Lokmanya Tilak was the dominant figure in the contemporary national politics, and he adopted a position that the foreigners should not interfere in the social and religious matters of the Indians. This strengthened the position of the orthodox elements of the national movement and thereby weakened the reforms movement. It also discouraged the rulers from passing any progressive Acts.
After this, Pandita Ramabai confined herself to the missionary activities (15).
In 1897, again the cause of women was central to the unrest caused by the indecent behaviour of the British officer Rand and his assistants during the epidemic of plague in Pune. Women's molestation intensified feelings against the foreign rule. Rand was assassinated by
Chaphekar brothers.(16)
During this phase, Kesari was a very important daily in
Maharashtra which was started by Lokmanya Tilak to voice the unrest of the Indian people. For all these years, Lokmanya
Tilak was dominating the national political scene and thus once again Pune had become the centre of the major political dynamics in the entire nation. It can naturally be concluded that an average women in Maharashtra, especially G;
in Pune was more exposed to political communication than
the women in most of the parts of the nation (17).
GANDHI ERA:
The post-1920 period or the Gandhi era is more
important from point of view of the particiaption of women
in politics as compared to the pre-1920 period. In the
Gandhi era, political participation of women got a spurt
that was never witnessed before. This was a period when
the women leaders like Yashodabai Bhat, Prematai Kantak,
Laxmibai Thuse, Godavari Parulekar, Anusuya Kale etc. came
to the forefront. The most important contribution of
Mahatma Gandhi was the simple programmes and techniques
that he developed which enabled even common man to participate in the freedom struggle. His programmes had a
strong appeal to the women students as well as the youth.
In 1917 Avantikabai Gokhale led the Champaranya
Satyagraha and later she came to be known as Sarojini of
Maharasthra (18). In 1918 British women got the right to
vote. Therefore in 1919 a delegation led by Dr. Sarojini
Naidu went to see the Viceroy about the enfranachisement of
women in India. Ramabai Ranade and Laxmibai Rajwade were
also in the delegation. (19). In 1920 Anusuya Rale founded
Bhagini Mahila Samaj at Nagpur. 63 In 1921, the first political organizaiton of women 'Sut committee' was established in Pune (20), The year 1921 set a landmark in the political participation of women, when the
Government gave permission to Tatas to acquire theland of the peopleof Mulshi in Pune District in order tobuild a dam. Under the leadership of Senapati Bapat> Balkaka
Kanetkar, Dastane, Bhuskute etc. people decided to launch a
Satyagraha as the protest against it. On 16th April 1921, the Stayagraha that raised the slogan 'Jan Kinva Jamin' was started, but was postponed due to the primary negotiations.
However, the assurances given at the time of negotiations were not kept, which led to the intensification of the struggle. Smt. Jaibai Bhoi played a leading role in the mobilization bf the people. Under her leadership many women participated in the Satyagraha that took place on 1st May
1922. On 4th May 1922, Jaibai was arrrested and imprisoned for three months. In a number of Stayagrahas that followed her arrest, Smt. Saraswatibai Bhuskute, Parwatibai Parchure,
Savitribai Manmadkar, Satyabhamabai Govindwar, Jankibai
Walimbe, Sakhubai Sonkar, Bajabai Sondkar et al. participated. (21).
In Gandhi era, women participated in various
Satyagrahas and demonstrations. Women participated in the
Flat Satyagraha atNagpur in 1923. It arose because the police objected to the procession carrying the national flag and proceeding in the direction of the civil lines of the city. Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. was promulgated on the G4i 1st Hay 1923.(22). However, women had started participating in Satyagrahas much before that. Women also used religious platforms of Keertan and Pravachan for propogating the message of Swadeshi. On 2nd October 1923> Indirabai
Deodhar's Keertan in Pune was entirely devoted to the cause of 'Swadeshi'(23 ) .
In Gandhi era, Nationalist movement succeeded in involving the people from various parts of the country, urban as well as rural. In many places nationalist schools were started. At some places, these nationalist activists used to take part in all the major as well as minor events in the social life, whether or not these events were related to the national cause. As Radhabai Apte puts it, whether it is death or a calamity like flood, the staff of the
'Rashtrya Shala' used to offer whole hearted help. They used to take initiative in every social event in the town and their wives used to take care of the refreshments and manage the kitchen, howsoever big the function may be. The participation of women in the acivities of Congress was very much encouraged in the Gandhi era. Shankarrao Deo, then
President of the Pradesh Congress Committee, had asked
Radhabai Apte to bring at least 10 women delegates for the
Faizpur Congress from different castes and occupational groups (24) .
In 1928, Anasuyabai Kale became the member and the
Dy.Speaker of the Kendriya Vidhan Sabha. In 1930 she resigned from the post as a protest against Gandhiji's G5 arrest in the Salt Satyagraha. Later in 1937 again she became the Dy.Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Assembly. During
World War II, she resigned her position as per the decision of the Congress. (25).
TM£ SOCIALISTS m i CQMHUHISTS :
The Indian National Congress was an umbrella that was sheltering various political ideologies. In 1934, the
Congress Socialist party was formed. The Rashtra Seva Dal was its maoor feeding centre, which attracted students and the youth. It was marked by a large number of women activists. Almost all of them participated in the Quit
India movement of 1942. The intensity of participation of women was maximum at the time of Quit India movement than it was found in the Non Co-opertion movement and Civil
Disobedience movement. Later, women made their mark when in the Naval mutiny of February 1946, Kamal Pawar-Donde was shot dead and Kusum Randive was shot but survived (26). In
1947 Keshavrao Jedhe and Shankarrao More broke away from the
Congress and formed Peasants and Workers Party. Shantabai
More, Tanubai Jadhav, Malini Tulpule and Pushpa Patil were active workers of the party. Malini Tulpule had travelled extensively all over Maharashtra and addressed huge rallies of followers of the party. (27) ASSESSM m Q£ SQgJ^L REFQHHS MQVEHEHT Ami WQHEN'S MQVEHEHT GG IN £BE-IHDEP£HDEHCE IjjDIA
The reform looveiaent was quite successful as far as the issues like widow remarriage, increase in the miniaum age at marraige, education for woiaen etc. are concerned. But these reforms did not challenge the patriarchal values that really suppressed the women. The ideological content of the movements was not feminist nor did the movlements suggest any change in the prevalent patriarchal structures. They simply tried to uplift the women in the given societal structure. Social reforms movement particularly was heavily influenced by the Hindu revivalism and wider non-Brahmin movement was so heavily entangled in the process of
Sanskritization that it was not able to give alterntives to caste and gender relations in Hindu society. But still these movements were a part of the process which enabled Indian women to come out of the four walls of their homes or fight against their exploitation. These movements widened the horizons of the women's world. Though the public as well as family life was controlled by the men these movements enabled the women to peep into the outdoor world which was so far closed for women. Women were putting their entire strengyth howsoever weak it may be, for the cause of the movements and were using the resultant freedom to march even further. Most of these movements were mainly initiated by men and were essentially subordinate, though complementary, to the national cause. Women's participation in the freedom struggle also came about because that was the need of the 6 / hour and many women perceived it as a help offered by the dutiful wives to their husbands in their fight for the national cause.
Gail Omvedt has classified the women's movements
in the pre-independence movement in four major categories.
(1) Women’s movement as a part of the social reforms
movement.
(2) Women's movement as a part of the anti-casteism
movement.
(3) Autonomous women's movement like All India Women's
Conference.
(4) Women's movement under the socialist or communist
leadership. (27).
However, this classification offered by Gail
Omvedt is inadequate in the sense that it does not take cognisance of the women's movement under Rightest
Leadership. The Hindu Mahila Sabha, Rashtra Sevika Samiti etc. fall under this category.
HINDU NATIOHALISM :
In 1905 at the initiative and inspiration of Babarao
Savarkar, Atmanishtha Yuvti Sangh was established at Nasik.
Smt. Yesuvahini Savarkar managed to organise nearly 50/60 women as members of the Sangh. They used to assemble to read various political articles in the newspapers at least once a week. They boycotted sugar which was a foreign 68 commodity. Similarly, they gave up using glass bangles, because glass was also imported. The prominent women of the
'Atmanishtha Yuvati Sangh' were from high caste and the husbands of most of them were arrested in the revolutionary activity (29).
HIHDU HATIONALISM IN GAHDHI ERA :
There were two important parallels to women's movement under the leadership of Gandhiji, namely Hindu Mahila Sabha and Rashtra Sevika Samiti. After the death of Lokmanya
Tilak, people believing in his thoughts could not be integrated in the Gandhian movement. Shri N.C.Kelkar,
L .V .Bhopatkar etc were closer to the Lokashahi Swarajya
Party. This party had a women's wing under the leadership of Mai Gogte, Yashodabai Bhopatkar etc. Later, this entire group started working for the Hindu Maha Sabha and the women started the Hindu Mahila Sabha. Another women's organization was established in 1937 under the name of
Rashtra Sevika Samiti.
Many of the activists of the Hindu Mahila Sabha as well as the rashtra Sevika Samiti use the techniques like
'Reertan,' 'Pravachan' and 'Haladi-Kunku' functions to organise women. They find these organizational techniques to be very useful in a traditional society like India. Hindu
Mahila shabha, being the women's wing of Hindu Maha Sabha participates in the activities to prevent the conversion of
Hindus to other faith. It had started a major agitation to G9 condemn the session of the World Christan Congress that was
held in Bombay in 1964 as the agenda of the Congress was
aimaing at Christanizing India. Sunderabai Bhopatkar,
Shantabai Gokhle, Krishnabai Divekar, Girijabai Gore,
Sindhutai Godse were some of the prominent workers of the
Hindu Mahila Sabha (30).
Though Hindu Mahila Sabha could not flourish beyond a
certain limit, Rashtra Sevika Samiti has spread its
organisational network throughout the country and has got a
mass following of women though in many places, it is primarily confined to the high caste, middle class women in
the age group of below 16 years and above 40 years.
Rashtra Sevika Samiti founded by Laxmibai alias Hawshi
Kelkar in 1937 has spread its tenacles all over India
through its band of dedicated Sevikas. Some women are
working for the Samiti as wholetimers. The prominent Samiti
leaders from Maharashtra are Pramukh Sanchalika Saraswati
alias Tai Apte, Bakultai Deokule, Sushilatai Mahajan,
Pramilatai Medhe etc.
In spite of its band of innumerable dedicated workers
Samiti has not played any decisive role in the women's
movwment in the state. Samiti was known for not reacting to
the social issues publicly. Samiti claims to be an
a-political organization. The programmes of the Samiti are
not press-publicity oriented. It organizes various training
for its active workers very regularly. It does not adopt 7U agitative posture on any burning issue. For the first time we find a drastic change in this trend very recently, when over five hundred 'Sevikas' marched towards the Collector's office in Pune, on 17th September, 1990 ; to protest against the seperatist terrorism in Kashmir vally (31).
THE DALIT MOVEMENT :
Along-side this freedom movement there was another mass movement striving for social justice, - the Dalit movement under the leadership of Dr, Ambedkar. Even before the advent ofDr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, there was an evidence of the awakening of the dalit. However,the intensity was rather
less and geographically it was restricted only to some parts of Vidarbha. The concept of untouchability had a wide social acceptance and as a result, the large dalit community was totally isolated from the mainstream politics. The dalits were totally deprived of all economic and educational opportunities. As per the Montegue Chemsford Reforms of
1919,the representatives were to be elected to the provincial legislatures, but the right to vote was
restricted to the educated and propertied people.
Therefore, the poor and illiterate Dalits were largely deprived of the opportunity. But due to the struggle of the
Dalits for their rights, the Government decided to nominate
the representatives of the Dalit community (32). Though the
Dalits had started organising themselves in Vidarbha, the
rallies were largely attended only by the Mahars. The 71 participation of the remaining Dalit castes was negligible.
After the advent of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, we can see the
systematic efforts to mobilize and organize the Dalit masses
and to lay the theoretical foundation of the movement. Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar being the first highly educated Dalit
person, was highly respected by the entire Dalit community.
In fact, many of them used to feel that now even the Dalits
have got their own 'king', who is going to protect their
rights (33). The Dalit people surrendered their
unconditioned loyalties at his feet. Under his leadership, women participated in the Chavdar Lake Satyagraha at liahad
in 1927 and Kala Ram Mandir Satyagraha at Nasik in 1930
(34), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar always emphasized on the
upiiftment of women and their total participation in the
movement- As a result, usually the entire family as a unit
used to participate in the various activities of the Dalit
movement, a trend that continues to a large extent even
today i'S'5) . Dr. Ambedkar took great efforts to prepare the
Hindu Code Bill, aiming at undoing the injustice to women.
The Dalit movement gave birth to many leaders like Shantabai
Dani, Gitabai Gaikwad, Minabai Shivraj, Ishwaribai,
Sulochanabai Dongre, Radhabai Kamble et al. (36). However,
the women leadership that was found at the time of Dr.
Ambedkar is not found today (37). Under the leadership of
Dr. Ambedkar, the political power of the Dalit movement was
reflected through the Swatantra Mazoor Party. It was altsa
known as the Independent Labour Party. Though a party under
the leadership of a prominent Dalit leader, assumed a non f) caste chatacter. It decided to field Dr. Madhumalati Gune, a
Brahmin woman, in the Pune consti t\.iency. Pune constituency was reserved for women for the 1937 elections (38). The party often used to support the non--Daiit candidatF^s of other parties, as is clear from the message sent by Dr.
Babasaheb to the voters of Vidarbha. He had enlisted many candidates, one of being Smt. Vimaiabai Deshmukh from
Amravati constituency that was reserved for women. Though supported by Swatantra Ma^oor Party, she could not get elected in 1937 election- (39).
Dr. Ambedkar's emphasis on the participation of women is also reflected in the proceedings of a public meeting held by the Independent Labour Party at Naigaon on 27th
March 1938. In this meeting Dr. Ambedkar made a strong appe?al to the large number of women who were attending the meeting for joining his party. He said that if women joined the party, the men folk will be forced to follow their footsteps- This meeting was marked by the massive presence of women workers from a match bojt manufacturing factory nearby. The Swatantra Mazoor Party had successfully intervened in the strike which was called off after fruitful negotiations at the initiative of the Swatantra Mazoor Party
(40). Apart from the examples of Madhumalati Gune and
Vimalabai Deshmukh who were not party workers, but were supported by the party, we also find the examples of Bitabai
Gaikwad, wife of Bhaurao Gaikwad and an active worker herself who got elected to the Nasik District Local Board as 73
the official candidate of the Swatantra Mazdoor Party in
1938 (41).
Dr. Ambedkar played a vital role in shaping the
Constitution of India as he was the Chairman of the Drafting
Committee of the Constituent Assembly. The Constitution protected the rights of the Dalits by incorporating them in th Constitution as the Scheduled Castes. The political representation of the Dalits was ensured by reserving seats in the local bodies, the State Legislatures as well as in
the Parliament. However, no separate consideration was given to the problem of Dalit women as such. In post-
Independence period, particularly in post-Dr» Ambedkar period we find certain different trends in the Dalit movement. Though the level of education among the Dalits increased considerably, they did not remain very active in
the field of social activity. The image of Dr. Ambedkar and
the tremendous social contribution made by him appealed to
them emotionally, but this appeal did not inspire many of them for being active in the Dalit movement (42). There is
also an opinion that the modern Dalit woman does not have any social commitment. Though very poor and illiterate, the
Dalit woman had contributed a lot under the leadership of
Dr. Ambedkar. Today the educated Dalit woman is totally aloof from the movement - emotionally as well as
practically (43). She has detached herself from an
economically backward Dalit woman and is trying to follow
the so called upper caste women. Education seems to have changed her view of life very drastically (44). Low level oi eduction and lack of gainful employment accompanied by male dominance, are the problems faced by an average Dalit woman (45).
Fragmentation is one of the most serious drawbacks of the present Dalit movement- In the political field, we find the Dalit Panther (Athavale factioPf), Dalit Panther (Dhasal faction), Republican Party of India (Ambedkar), Republican
Party of India (Gawai), Republican Party of India
(Khobragade), and Dalit Muslim Suraksha Mahasangh led by
Haji Mastan etc. All these parties claim to reprsent the
Dalit community. This mushroom-1 ike rise in the Daiit parties is more a result of personal ambitions rather than ideological differences. Several attempts at Dalit unity were made, all in vain, the latest being in December
1989. After the Lok Sabha election in 1989, 13 factions of various Dalit parties jointly launched the Republican Party of India on 19th December 1969, only to break it again on the eve of Assembly elections in March 1990 (46). On the political scene the movement as such has not had noticeable impact. Different groups and organizations and parties in the Daiit movement are not very well structured and by and large, they lack the organizational precedence encouraging healthy relationships among the workers. This has also led to the total neglect of women by ail the Dalit parties. We do not find many women in the Daiit Panther or the elite of the RPI (47). The Dalits did not get an able leader after ^ t' r o Dr. Ambedkar. Today we -find simply a second rank leadership which is holding the top positions an the Dalit parties.
The competition among the Dalit leaders has also become very tough and the Congress has always tried to defunct the Dalit movement by either integrating top rank Dalit leaders within its -fold or by obliging them by promoting them th the status of a Satellite rather than having an ambition to shine with their own success (48). 7G POLITICAL MQVEMEHTS AFTER INDEPEHDEHCE i.
In addition to the routine political activity in their respective party organisations, in the post-independence history of India, we come across some major agitations in which women have contributed to a great extent. The Samyukta
Maharashtra Andolan, the Goa Mukti Andolan, the struggle against the imposition of emergency in 1975, are few such examples.
SAMYUKTA MAHARASHTRA ANDOLAN :
The Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan and Goa Mukti Andolan are agitations of the same period in the political history of Maharashtra and many women to participate in both of these agitations are also common. Most of these women had also taken part in the freedom movement. After independence, the people in Maharashtra had to fight for nearly 14 years to attain statehood for Maharashtra as a Marathi speaking province, with Bombay as its integral part. On 28th July
1946, the Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad was established, with Smt.Pramila Oak as the joint secretary of its first executive committee. The Parishad soon became an all-party phenomenon. As per the recommendations of the States
Reorganisation Commission in 1955, the states all over India were being reorganised on linguistic basis. However, Bombay province was to remain as the combine of the present Gujrat and Maharashtra. Sundarabai Bhopatkar, the president of the
Hindu Mahila Sabha, Maharashtra; was the first woman to raise a voice against this provision. The Andoian adopted 7V various techniques like public meetings and conferences morchas , demonstrations and satyagrahas. Godavari Parulekar
(Communist) , Anutai Limaye (PSP), Shirish Pai
(Independent), Charushila Gupte (Saiayukta Maharashtravadi
Congress Jana Parishad), Shanta Gokhale (Hindu Maha Sabha),
Shanta Phatak (Jan Sangh), and others enthusiastically participated in the Andoian which then truly became an all party affair (49).
OQA MUKTL SAHGRAH :
In 1946, Dr.Lohia raised the issue of the independence of Goa. However,the andoian got a spurt only after the arrest of Dr. Gaytonde, a freedom fighter, on 17th Feb,
1954. Smt.Sudhatai Joshi was unanimously nominated as the president of the session of the Goa National Congress that was scheduled to be held on 6th April,1955; at Kapsa. She was arrested while she was giving the presidential address.
The Goa satyaghrahi underwent severe torture by the
Pourtugese. Indutai Kelkar, Anutai Limaye, Malini Tulpule,
Kamalabai Bhagwat, Vimal Garud, Sindhu Ketkar, Manda Yalgi,
Shanta Rao, Sharayu Dandekar, Sundarabai Bhopatkar, Radhabai
Ranade and many others contributed to the Goa Mukti Sangram to a great extent. Even the brutalities of the Pourtugese could not deter them. Prominent among them was Smt.Sudhatai
Joshi, who convinced her husband that if she joins the satyargaha, he will be able to support the family, but whereas, if he were in the agitation, she will not be able 78
to look after the family. Many women from different political parties joined the agitation. Malinibai Tulpule,
Anutai Limaye, IndutaiKelkar and others travelled extensivily for mobilising the people for the cause of
liberation of Goa (50). mE. EMERGEHCY :
Another event of mass participation was in protest
against the emergency, that was imposed by Indira Gandhi, on
25th June, 1975. Due to severe restrictions, though mass mobilisation was not possible, several women participated in the Satyagrahas launched by the non-Congress parties, particularly the Baratiya Jan Sangh and the Socialist parties, in protest against emergency. A great number of women (nearly 1200) were arrested in Maharashtra under the
Maintainance of Internal Security Act (MISA). A majority of
them were from the Sangh school of thought and were associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
There were also many Socialist women who were arrested under
MISA (51).
However, there is an important thing that is common to
all these agitations. All the women who were active were primarily committed workers of different political parties,
though they were not necessarily using the platform of the party but a special platform created to gear the campaign
for the specific issue*. They were in essence doing their bit
to implement the policy decisions taken by their respective (9 parties. But in the post-independence period we find two major non-party movements that have had a direct influence
on the socio-political role of the women in Maharashtra.
These movements are:
1. The Women's Liberation Movement following the
International Year For Women in 1975. and
2. The Shetkari Sanghatana, that was started in 1980.
THE WOMEH' LIBBRATIOH MOVEMEBT :
In the post-independence Maharashtra, we find many movements, at times complementary to sometimes conlflicting with each other. In the 1970s women's movement got an added dimension which came to be known as the women's liberation movement. The year 1975 was declared by the U.N.O. as the
International Year Of Women. During this year there happened
to be a great deal of interaction among women activists all over the world,and the Indian activists women came in
contact with the Feminist ideology abroad. They learned and
adopted new concepts like 'Body Politics', 'Gender
Construction',' Sexual Politics', 'Personal is Political'
etc. This gave a totally new perspective to the women's
movement (51).
In the post-1975 period we find a number of small
groups of feminists active at a number of places. They
emphasize mainly upon the atrocities against women, health,
economic independence, legal and constitutional rights etc. 8 0 However, these organisations or the women's liberation movement as a whole have not influenced political participation of women in a positive manner, nor had the movement reached the grass-root level of the society. The leftist movement or the Dalit movement have not succeeded in mobilizing the rural women and unorganized women labourers (52).
The movement did not give any mass programmes to the women nor was it able to evolve any formal structure of a state level organisation that could take care of the issues faced by an ordinary woman or will try to change the attitudes of an average woman. The movement largely remained very scattered and it was more of a confederation of various autonomous feminist organisations of different shades of ideology. The first known attempt to reach an average woman in the remotest parts of the state was made in 1985. Before this time, the movement was trying to mobilize support for the cause of women by spreading the message through street plays and by organising study circles, group discussions etc. Stree Mukti Saghatna started performing the street play 'Mulgi Zaali Ho', since 14th May, 1983. Stree Hukti
Yatra Samiti consisting 40 members was formed by June 1984.
The Yatra began on Jan 9 and continued till Jan 21, 1985.
It covered Satara, Sangli, Miraj, Kolhapur, Ichalkaranji and other parts of Southern Maharashtra. One of the demands was equality in social and political fields (53). 8 As Madhu Rishwar rightly observes, 'Movements whose ±
leaders use the feminist, leftist, or the current development type terminology, sometimes prefer to project women's mobilizations, howsoever limited their scope, as women's movements. But women's mobilisations within general movements which use traditional or religious terminology, or which are led by traditional poltical parties,often tend to
receive much less attention by progressive writers and social scientists. Thus a large scale mobilization of rural women in punjab ( or for that matter the mobilisation of women in the Ram Janmabhoomi issue) receives much less
attention than much smaller scale mobilisations by left-
inclined groups or agencies in various parts of the country.
Many reports also tend to treat discussion of women's issues
as almost equivalent to action on such issues (54).
REPRESEHTATIQH Q£ WOMEt^ M THE ASSEHBLI QE MAHARASHTRA
ASSEMBLY ELECTXQttS WOMEN H.L.A.s
1952 12
1957 14
1962 15
1967 12
1972 22
1978 9
1980 19
1985 15
1990 6
The Women's Liberation Movement has had negligible
impact on the political participation of the women in 82 Maharashtra. As the table shows, the number of women in the
Assembly has not any increased after the advent of the movemen t.
One important reason for the failure of the women's liberation movement in influencing politics decisively, is the fragmentation of the movement. The movement is Leftist in style, spirit and theoretical content. It has not tried to include the women's organizations at the Center and to the Right of the Ideological continuim. There is total lack of interaction among these major ideological camps and this has resulted in misunderstanding and mutual suspicion.
Naturally, though al of them are fighting for the same cause
- the cause of women, very often their efforts are countering each other's progress. Fragmentation is nowhere as endemic and pervasive as in the various activist organisations and movement groups operating at the grass roots as in the political parties, though the virus is spreading in the latter too. In fact, in case of these non- party political formations the fragmentation is of a dual type. Firstly> by focussing their energies on discrete micro-settings these organizations remain at the big remove from the macro processes of transformation and even within the micro movements, they remain isolated and alienated from each other. Secondly, many remain single constituency movements - women, students, ecology, press freedom etc., lacking in larger comprehension and vision that could at once consolidate arenas of struggle and bring them together under a common banner and for a common goal. Without this larger perspective, it will not be possible to deal with the 8
backlash from entrenched interests of the classes which fell
threatened but are not willing to negotiate structural
changes in the distribution of power and access to resources
and positions.(55). The activists in the women's liberation
movement are afraid of another danger. They feel now that
the women's movement has produced a number of women
activists, all the political parties would try to swallow
these workers because the paucity of women in their cadre will be a heavy liability with the advent of the policy of
political reservations for women.(56).
RURAL WOMEN AND POLITICS:
In the rural parts, the political awareness among women
is negligible. Women get elected to the panchayat due to the
legal provision of reservation for women but usually remain
there just for name sake. No serious consideraon is given
to the cause of their effective participation.(57). However,
some stray attempts to strenghen the participation in the
rural areas,- like the Stree Mukti Sanghatana at Indoli,
howsoever marginal their success may be, can not be neglec
ted. In 1983 election to the panchayat of Indoli, in Karad
Tehasil of Dist. Satara in southern Maharashtra, when an
all-woman panel declared that they were going to contest
elections, men initially decided that they would not con
test, probably to avoid the possible embarrasment in case
of eventual defeat by women. Later when they realised that
the intentions of the women were far more serious, they 84 resorted to the pressure tactics. They pressurised their wives to remain at home. The husbands of the women candidates were promised that they themselves will get the candidature if they force their wives to withdraw. Due all these pressures the panel could not win the elections, but it was really a landmark in political participation of rural women.(58).
One major recent attempt at mobilising rural women is found in the Satyashodhak mahila Parishad held in Pune. On the 28th nov. 1990, a massive rally was jointly sponsored by the Stree Mukti Andolan Samparka Samiti and Phule Ambedkar
Vichar Samvrdhan Samiti. However, the entire scene was dominated by the political parties. The rally was entitled
'Satyashodhak Mahila Parashad. In the declaration, it has demanded 30^ reservation for women in all the govt committees. At the local level it demands that at least one important office like Mayor/ Deputy Mayor, Sarpanch/ Upa-
Sarpanch etc. should be given to the women.
The attempts at mobilization of rural women in
Maharashtra are rather negligible and they have started very late as compared to the Women's Liberation Movement. The movement could not have any noticable impact on the rural women, till it was linked with the Shetkari Sanghtana, which later took initiative in forming the Samagra Mahila Aghadi consisting of the Shetkari Mahila Aghadi and some feminist groups. Similarly, the religious minorities, the largest among them being that of the Muslims, have also remained 85 aloof from the movement as far as the actual participation
is concerned. Muslim woman face.s inumerabie probelms like polygamy, Jubani Talak and illiteracy. In addition, Islam does not approve of Family planning. Therefore most of the energies of a woman are spent in child bearing and child rearing. In Akola Muslim women were not allowed to go for the movies (59). But in spite of all its drawbacks, the contribution of the Women's Liberation Movement has been tremendous. The movement made the mass media conscious of the problems peculiar to women, irrespective of all the socio-economic differences. The policies of Govt, have been influenced by the movement in recent times.
THE SHETKARI SANGHATANA:
The decision to organise a women's front came at the initiative of the male leadership of the Sanghatana, without any pressure whatsoever from the peasant women (60). One woman activist narrates an episode at one of the earliest women's meeting called by Sharad Joshi,(SJ), when he asked the women to express their problems, they went on talking only about unremunerative prices and other problems faced by the peasant families. Even when asked specifically about women's problems in particular, the women did not speak up.
They continued talking about the Govt. policies and the agricultural labour going unrewarded. This activist further narrates that the next day 'Sharad Bhau' said 'All right, now answer only the questions I ask. Forget that anyone is 8G listening and say what is in your heart. 'There was only SJ and a couple of Shetkari Sanghatana (SS) workers in the hall, the doors were closed, and in a little while, every woman started telling her problem,- someone's husband used to beat her, another's was a drunkard, ... many started crying (61).
Though women had started participating in the activities of the Sanghatana since the tobacco agitation at
Nipani on 14th mar. 1981, It took the S S . six full years since its inception in 1980, to form a palpable women's wing and to organise deliberations on the problems specific to women. Though the women's question has been on the agenda of all the sessions of the Sanghatana starting from its first session at Satana in Jan. 1982, the deliberations concerned the ways, means and need to mobilise the women to strengthen the agitations, rather than the problems specific to women.
The women who thronged there, themselves did not seem to look upon the SS. for the redressal of their greivances (62).
The SS. believes that the new peasants movement has a historical and theoretical responsibility of pronouncing itself on the women's question. Therefore an exercise in exchange of experiences was initiated in early 1984, consisting of a series of meetings of rural and semi-urban women, a conclave for theoretical discussions at Vaijapur in
Aug. 1986, and intensive workshop at Ambethan in Sept. 1986.
These efforts culminated in the massive women's rally at 87 Chandwad in Nasik district of Maharashtra, in Nov.
1986.(63). The SS tried to examine the scientific element of
Marxism Leninism and Radical Feminism and tried to achieve the golden mean. The SS believes that in all epochs of history the insecurity of women continued, just the causes of insecurity changed.Therefore, without the rural- uraban distinction, the women from the 'Bharat' can join hands with the women in 'India', and together they can form a front to change the entire social and political picture (64).
The action programme spelt out in the background paper for the deliberations at the rally observes how patriarchy, which from the wars of plunder, has survived for such a long time as to appear not only a natural system, but 'The' system (65). The resolution on political situation as adopted by the Chandwad conference notes that all the political and parochial forces are driving the nation to rapid destruction. Nothing in sight promises a political alternative that will establish a decentralised democratic structure. The whole countryside has come under the sway of
Goonda leaders thriving on political power and economic institutions, and the resultant insecurity has been, in particular, harmful to women. As per the Resolution 3.3.1 the conference resolved that 'all women in Maharashtra should unite to secure power upto the district level, and with this end in view, all women's organisations should come together and present a unified list of women candidates in the forthcoming elections (66). Though this was the very 88
first such attempt on part of the SS, the conference was
attended by 5000 delegates and the open session was attended
by nearly 40,000 women. This was a land mark in Indian
history as it rounded such huge number of rural women from
just one state (67). The leader of the Satyashodhak Marxwadi
party, Shri Sharad Patil, however claims that the
inspiration for holding the women's conference at Chandwad
was given by the Satyashodhak Kashtakari Mahila Parishad
which was formed in 1979 (68). The conference posed a
serious challange before all the political parties as none
of them had taken any pains for mobilising rural women or to
solve their problems (69). The conference was attended by
many feminist leaders as well as women politicians like Smt.
Pramila Dandavate, Smt. Mrinal Gore and others. By
recognising the rural women's issues as different from the peasants' issues,the SS won the confidence of the feminist
activists.
In Mar.1989, the Shetkari Mahila Aghadi (SHA), fought
the election to the village panchayat of Vitner in Chopda
tehsil of Jalgaon district. The president of SMA Jalgaon
district Smt. Indira Patil fielded the entirely women's
panel which defeated all the opponents (70).
The SMA is opposed to the 30% reservation of seats for
women in civic bodies and would instead prefer multi-member
constituencies. The SS leader Shri. Sharad Joshi had
suggested to the Cheif Minister of Maharashtra Shri. Sharad 89 Pawar that instead of reserving 30% constituencies exclusively for women, every constituency could be represented by two men and a women. Introduction of multimember constituencies will eliminate the heart burning on part of the male candidates who are likely to be deprived of an opportunity to contest election if their constituency is declared reserved for women (71).
The SS has announced the decision to field 1000 women candidates in the forthcoming Zilla Parishad and Gram
Panchayat elections that are scheduled to be held in
1991 (72).
The SS has emerged to spearhead the fight for property rights of women in rural areas by implementing the 'Hingoli
Programme' which involves transfer of 50& of land holdings of the farmers to the women in the family (73). However, though this kind of transfer has already been started, there are some doubts about the success of the programme. The S3 has always been against the fragmentation of landholdings.
This transfer may mean further division if the woman decides to sell the land or chooses to grow some different crop in her piece of land. On the other hand if the transfer does not give her any right to decide what she wants to do of her land, the transfer of property will virtually be meaningless. The intensions of Sharad Joshi (SJ) are being challenged by accusing him of exploiting the women's issues for brighteninng his image (74). GO
However, Sharad Joshi should be given the credit he deserves for mobilising the rural women to voice their grave problems. If someone takes up a genuine cause which may in turn boost his image, there is nothing wrong in it. Shri.
Sharad Patil, the leader of the Satyashodak Communist Party, is very sceptical about the SS leader. He holds that there is not much substance in SJ's announcements because, had the
Z.P. elections been held after the Chandwad Conference, this announcement would have been reduced to a mere bluff, as was his announcement about marching towards the then P.M. Rajiv
Gandhi's house for demanding an inquiry into the Hov. 1984 riots in Delhi which followed Mrs.Indira Gandhi's assasination. Sharad Patil further argues that SJ has been forced to make such announcements every now and then as he has not really understood the true problems neither of the farmers nor of the O.B.C.s nor of women (75).
Sharad Patil further says that though the SS claims to have accepted the positive contributions of Radical
Feminism, the Shetkari Mahila Aghadi lacks firm ideologocal foundation. In tune with 'All farmers are one', 'All women are one ' is their slogan. This person who is using the theoretical contributions of Feminism for his women's organisation, is exploiting the peasant women for strengthening the struggle of peasant men (76).
Vidyut Bhagvat, who has worked as the General Secretary of the samagra Mahila Aghadi, alleges SJ of trying to 9 1 manage to win the seats, will not be in a positon to work
effectively without the guidance of the SS men, they are
enthusiastically willing to campaign for women candidates,
because they see this as a way of strengthening the base of
the Sanghatna (82). However, in Sanghatana meetings mostly
the reporting is done by the men and the men assume the responsibility of finding suitable women candidates and
campaigning for them. Though the strategy of putting up 100% women panels may have far reaching consequences in the long
run, it would be a mistake to see the move itself as an assertion of woman power in rural areas. Had the leadership
decided that women should be given 5 or 10 X of seats
instead of 100% , it is unlikely that women would have asked
for and gotten more seats on their own strength (83). Vidyut
Bhagwat ,however, sees this strategy as the best way out to
avoid the quarrels and in-fightings among the SS men on the
issue of getting the candidature (84).
Whatever its drawbacks, the Shetkari Sanghatana has definitely aroused the hopes as it is the only major force
in the politics of Maharashtra in the post independence period that has mobilized rural women to such a great
extent. 92 defunct the urban women's movement constantly (7?). She holds that the active Feminist groups like 'Saheli' of Delhi refuse to recognise SS women as feminist, since they were rural women and obviously didn't look like the rural poor.
The only person to support was Madhu Kishwar, hardly anyone else seem to identify with the programme (78). The SS is one of the largest scale mobilisations of rural women in recent times, to have tried to give rural women an agenda of their own (79).
The Chandwad resolution laid stress on the increasing violence and Goondaism in the society leading to insecurity for women. However, neither have the women demanded, nor has the leadership found it feasible to start the struggle against the violence on women by beginning with that within the family (80). It was also reported that, when demanded by the women about pledging in a S3 rally, against drinking and wife-beating, the SS leader SJ expressed his inability by saying that he can't possibly hurt his men followers by demanding such a thing (81). The resolution to put up an all-women panel at the Z.P. and P.S. elections is indeed a remarkable step, considering how peripheral a role women have so far been allowed to play in village and district level politics. This radical measure seems to have been accepted by the men of the SS because the leadership has presented it as a part of the strategy to defeat the corrupt and Goonda politics of the Cong.I. Even though the men are convinced that right now, women candidates, even if they 9 o manage to win the seats, will not be in a positon to work
effectively without the guidance of the SS men, they are
enthusiastically willing to canipaign for women candidates,
because they see this as a way of strengthening the base of
the Sanghatna (82). However, in Sanghatana meetings mostly
the reporting isdone by the men and the men assume the
responsibility of finding suitable women candidates and
campaigning for them. Though the strategy of putting up 100% women panels may have far reaching consequences in the long
run, it would be a mistake to see the move itself as an
assertion of woman power in rural areas. Had the leadership
decided that women should be given 5 or 10% of seats
instead of 100% , it is unlikely that women wouldhave asked
for and gotten more seats on their own strength (63). Vidyut
Bhagwat ,however, sees this strategy as the best way out to
avoid the quarrels and in-fightings among the SS men on the
issue of getting the candidature (84).
Whatever its drawbacks, the Shetkari Sanghatana has
definitely aroused the hopes as it is the only major force
in the politics of Maharashtra in the post independence
period that has mobilized rural women to such a great
extent. 94 E Y O m i l . P M QL m . POLITICAL RIGHTS Q£ XHE. WQMEH
Though women are enjoying the right to vote since 1883, as far as the election to the local bodies is concerned, many of them did not exercise this right themselves before, but used to vote by proxy.Due to the incidents of misuse of this right to vote by proxy, the provision was repealed in 1915. Women got the right to contest elections to the local bodies in 1924, but till 1938, no women could get elected to the Pune Municipality (85). In 1932 Lothian committee was appointed by the Government to widen the right to franchise. The committee laid down three criteria, namely, personal property, husband's property and literacy for granting the rightto franchise. Due to these recommedations the ratio of male-female voters in Bombay province become 4;1. (86). As per the Government of India
Act of 1935, women not only were given the right to vote but certain constituencies, which were particularly important from point of view of level of awakening of women, were declared reserved for women as per the recommendations of the Hammond committee (87). Both men and women were supposed to vote to elect the representative from the reserved constituency. The provision continued for the 1946 elections as well. But the Constitution of India as adopted on 26th January 1950 did not provide for such reservations for women and the representation of women became purely a matter of discretion of the political parties. However, one important fact must be acknowledged that though the D5 Constitution did not grant any special privileges to women, at least it has treated men and women on par in terms of all the political rights.
Mli OPPORTUNITIES Q£ EQWER
We find that very few women get an opportunity to work as Ministers. Moreover, if they are appointed as Ministers
it is likely to be the rank of Minister of State, rather
than the Cabinet Minister. If someone gets appointed as
Cabinet Ministers, she is not likely to get important
Ministeries like Defence, Commerce, Energy, Finance, Revenue etc. But usually gets social welfare, family welfare, public health, education etc. For example, in February
1976, the Council of Minister under Shri S.B.Chavan as the
Chief Minister, had in all 31 Ministers, out of whom only 2 were women. Smt. Pratibha Patil was in charge of
Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs and Smt.
Prabha Rao was given Education, Youth Welfare and Sports.
In January 1980, the Progressive Democratic Front
Government with Shri Sharat Pawar as the Chief Ministers, again had 31 Ministers, out of whom only one was a woman.
Smt. Pramilatai Tople was in charge of Public Health and
Family Welfare. In February 1982, under Babasaheb Bhosale
as the Chief Minister, Smt. Sharadchandrika Patil was in charge of Education, Employment, Sports and Youth Welfare.
Even today there is only one woman Smt. Pushpatai Hire in
the Council of Ministers of Shri Sharad Pawar. Though so far there have been nearly Fifteen Speakers of the Assembly and Eleven Chairmen of the Legislative
Council of Maharashtra, not a single woman got an opportunity to hold these offices. However, Smt. Anusuya
Kale had worked as the Dy.Speaker of the Assembly of Madhya
Pradesh and Smt.Tarabai Sathe had presided over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha very often in the absence of the Ex-officio presiding officer. So far Maharashtra has
returned nearly 11 women to Rajya Sabha. Tarabai Sathe,
Sarojini Babar, Vimalabai Deshmukh, Saroj Khaparde, Sushila
Adivarekar, Premalatai Chavan, Hazma Heptullah, Sudha Joshi,
Pratibha Patil, Suryakanta Patil with the latest addition of
Chandrika Keniya.
h m REPRESENTATION:
In the 1937 elections to the Legislative Assembly of
Bombay Province, in all 6 women were elected from the
reservred constituencies for women. Four of them were from
the Maharashtra part of the Bombay Province. Smt.
Annapaurna Deshmukh from Girgaon, Smt. Lilawati Munshi from
Bhuleshwar and Laxmibai Thuse from Pune were Congress
candidates, whereas the seat from the Muslim constituency
reserved for women went to the Muslim League. Salima Faiz
Taiyabajee got elected from Girgaon. However, shortly after
her death Sadija Shafi Taiyabajee replaced her in the
Assembly.
In the 1946 elections the Congress as well as the 97 Muslim League maintained their respective strength. Tarabai
Modak got elected from Girgaon and Suniatibai Gore from Pune.
Lilawati Munshi and Sadija Taiyabajee retained their seats.
In 1949, the representatives of the princely states were given the membership of the House following their dissolution. Thus, Smt. Kalantribai Jain from Sangli and
Smt. Indirabai Deshpande from Kolhapur joined the House. In the 1952 election, there was no provision for the reservation for women. Still, we find as many as 12 women from the parts of Maharashtra, i.e. including Marathwada and Vidarbha and excluding the parts of Gujarat and
Karnataka of the Bombay State. All these women are from
Congress. None of them is a Muslim. We find considerable decline in the strength of the Muslim League after the partition.
In 1957 we find one Muslim woman,Safida Zuber as a
Congress MLA along with 10 other women MLAs of Congress.
Smt. Malati Waman Joshi, a Congress MLA from Amaravati
resigned shortly and again contested the election as an
independent candidate. Again she got elected. It is
interesting to note that at the time of 1957 elections,
Samyukta Maharashtra was the major issue. The whole
electioncentered around this issue and the Samyukta
Maharashtra Seem Samiti got tremendous success in the
election, but it could not return even one woman to the
House.
In the first Assembly of Maharashtra after the 1962 V i 8 elections. there v?ere 15 women, all from Congress. They vjere followed by 12 women MLAs in 1967, all of them Congress
MLAs. The 1972 Assembly had 22 women MLAs, once again all
of them from Congress.
The 1978 elections followed by the 1977 Lok Sabha
elections after the Emergency, changed the entire political
complexion of the nation with the first ever non-Congress
Government at the Centre as well as in Maharashtra, though
its most important component was Congress (S). The 1977
Assembly for the first time had non-Congress women MLAs, 4 of whom were from the Janata Party and the remaining 5 belonged to the two factions of Congress. The 1980
elections again show a rise in the strength of women in the
House. There werer 19 women in the Assembly, out of whom 2 were from the B.J.P. and remaining 17 were from Congress.
However, the number soon came down to 16 as 2 women MLAs
expired and one resigned in favour of her husband. In the
1985 Assembly, there were as many as 15 women, only one of whom was Janata MLA and the rest were from Congress. In
1990 Assembly elections the least number of elected women was reported. Only 6 women could make it to the House of
288. However, the composition of these six is rather unusual where we find the highest number of women MLAs, i.e.
3 out of 6, belong to the B.J.P., 2 to the Congress and one
to the Janata Dal. I i i £ AHALYSIS Q£ BI-ELECTIONS :
The analysis of bi-elections in the past 40 years reveals certain interesting facts which are quite thought- provoking. We find many examples of a wife getting party candidature in the bi-election following the death of her sitting member-husband. In the 1952-57 Assembly, Smt. Malan
Vasnik from Ramtek succeeded Lalendra Vasnik after his death. And Smt. Malatibai Joshi replaced Wamanrao Joshi from Amaravati after his death. During 1957-62 Assembly, there was Shevanta Chaure from Haveli, who followed
Purushottam Chaure, and Shri A.M.Makde from Tuusar was followed by his wife Manoramabai Makde. During 1962-67,
Venubai Awate from Ambegaon succeeded Annasaheb Awate. In
1967-72 Assembly, Vaharibai Padwi from Taloda replaced
Digarabarrao Padwi. During 1972-78 we find Smt. Rajkumari
Bajpai from Gondia in place of Gopal Narayan Bajpai and Smt.
Lata Tambe from Junnar replacing Shrikrishna Tambe. During
1978-80 there is slight variation in the usual pattern, where we come across Smt. Vijaya Dhote who became an MLA after the resignation of Jambuwantrao Dhote from Yavatmal.
The 1980-85 Assembly shows a drastic change in the trend with 2 husbands succeeding their wives who were sitting members. Dr. Suresh Patil followed his wife in the Assembly after the bi-election that followed her death in February
1983. There is another example of Vasantdada Patil who got elected to the House after Smt. Shalinitai Patil resigned from the House to create a vacancy so that he could get 1 i.i 0 elected to the House within 6 months after becoming the
Chief Minister of Maharashtra. It is difficult to say whether the reverse would have happened, had the career of a wife demanded such a sacrifice on part of the husband likely to give a setback to his career. However, in this particular case it must be acknowledged that the Sangli constituency was originally the constituency of Vasantdata
Patil which he had nurtured for a long time and Shalinitai
Patil could contest Assembly election from Sangli only because Vasantdata was not contesting.
Often there is a likelihood of a womman getting an opportunity just as a via-media or the best available solution to the problem of decision about the right candidate that arises out of a tough competition among several male aspirants for a particular office. Recently in
Sangli Municipal Corporation, the corporators of the ruling
Congress-I decided to elect a woman corporator as their next
Mayor simply because they could not arrive at a consensus about any one amongst themselves even after 5 meetings held for the express purpose of selecting their next leader (88). ilQMER, MEMBERS m X M LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL: q|^0
The strength of the Maharashtra Legislative is 78. As many as 30 M.L.C.s are elected by the Members of the
Legislative Asembly. The local self govt. institutions return 22 members to the council, whereas, the Graduates' constituencies and the Teachers' contituencies return seven 1 0 1 representatives each. In addition, persons of eminence in the field of art, literature, social work etc. can be nominated by the Governor, their number not exceeding 12.
The second chamber facilitates the representation of those sections who are likeky to remain unrepresented in the normal course. For example, the Republican Party of India could return even a single woman to the Assembly, but Smt.
Shantabai Dani was nominated to the council in 1969. Prior to the formation of reorganised Maharashtra, we find adequate representation of the Marathi and Gujarathi speaking women in the Legislative Assembly of the bi-lingual state of Bombay. In the post-1960 period, the Legislative
Council has ensured the representation of the linguistic as well as religious minorities where we find Kamalabai Ajmera
(1963-1969), S.G.Pinto (1964-1970), Kamar N.Ahmed (1972-
1980), Amtul Latif Jafar Ali (1978-1990»), Pramilabai Yajnik
(1974-1986), Hangala Parikh (1980-1986), Alu Jal Chhibber
(9180-1986), Kantaben Rao (1980-1385) et al.
Out of total 21 women M.L.C.s in the post-1962 period, as many as eleven i.e. more than 50% are from minorities and backward castes. The politics of Maharashtra has remained dominated by the Congress and this is naturally reflected in the composition of the Legislative Council, where majority of members are affiliated to the Congress directly or indirectly. We also find an exception like Kamar N.Ahmed who got elected by the Congress in 1972 and by the Janata Party
M .L .A .s in 1978. 1 0 2
RESERVATIONS
The provision of the local self govt. institutions displays the influence of Mahatma Gandhion the Indian
Constitution. It aims at percolating democracy down to the grass-root level. On 15th May 1989, the 64th Amendment Bill, popularly known as the Panchayat Raj Bill was introduced in
the Lok Sabha by the Rajiv Gandhi Govt. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha but was not carried by the Rajya Sabha. The
Bill aimed at implementing the recommendations of the Natio nal Perspective Plan For Women 1988-2000 A.D. The RG's govt,
fell down and the V.P.Singh Govt. did not re-introduce the bill when it was in power. However, the State Govt. Of
Maharashtra with Sharad Pawar as the Chief Minister made the provision for the reservation of 30% of seats for women in
the rural and urban local self govt. The Mahrastra Zilla
Parishads and Panchayat Samitis (1961) and Bombay Village
Panchayats (1958) (Amendment) Act,1990 or the MAH X of 1990
as adopted on 11th April 1990 and the Maharashtra Municipal
Corporations (Amendment) act 1990, i.e., MAH XI as adopted
on 21th Apr 1990 and the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations
(Second Amenment) Act 1990 as adopted on 21th Apr,1990 i.e.
MAH XIII of 1990 contain the provisions about these reserva
tions (89) .
The Mayors' Conference held in Pune on the 29th
Aug,1990 has urged the Govt. inits resolution about
reducing the reservations for the women in local bodies from
30% to 10 % (90). The Mahila Congress has condemned the
mayors' conference for theiropposition to the 30% reservations for women (91). In private talks the men
Congress workers made known their resentment about the
reservations. They fear that women will not be able to
withstand the corporation elections. They also feel that the
5 years of their tenure would be lost in getting trained the
conduct of civic proceedings, and the women willfind it
difficult to grasp the technicalities (92). However,
Shalutai Buddhivant reacts strongly saying that even many of
the men in evry election get elected to the corporation for
the first time (93). Both Smt. Budhivant and Vittharao
Ladkat hold that besause of the presence of the women, decency would prevail in the house (94). Shalutai assures
that the financial capacity of a woman would not be given
undue importance (95). She also said that as the wife of no
sitting corporator is an active worker of the party, they will not be offered party candidature by mere virtue of
being a corporator's wife. The Mahila Cong. has passed a
resolution to this effect (96). Shalutai feels that the
Shetkari Sanghatna's appeal urging women to get together to
solve women's issues is totally political. She feels that it
is imposible to forget the party and come together because
every party has different policies and programmes (97). The
women's wing of Pune BJP asserts that the party's women
candidates would be selected on the basis of their own
individual work and not because of their relation to any
leader (98). Not only those who are losing their ward due to
the reservations, but also some big shots in the parties are i trying to get their wife or daughter or a close relative
sponsored as the party candidate (99). Though officially the
Shiv Sena has welcomed the reservations, the sena leader
Shri.Manohar Joshi, who is the leader of opposition in the
Vidhan Sabha, strikes a different note. He says that the
women who get elected in the forthcoming elections will
insist on fighting the next election from the same ward ,
though it becomes dereserved, whereas, all parties will have
to field women in the newly reserved wards for the next
elections. If this trend continues, there will be a need for reservations for men, after three to four elections (100).
Maharashtra Times, a leading regional daily observes that
the BJP has maximum women. It further predicts that the BJP
- Shiv Sena alliance will continue for the BMC elections
therefore many reserved wards will go to the BJP as Shiv
Sena does not have many women (101). It also observes that the ward of a Muslim League corporator has been declared
reserved where is trying to field his daughter, who is a doctor. (102). It is a welcome sign to find at least two
corporators ,both from JD, who say that they do not believe
in feilding their wives as proxys (103). The decision of
political reservations has led to the frantic search by all
the political parties for eligible and able women candidates
for the next elections to the local self-govt. In the newly elected Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, 18 women have
entered the Corporation due to the 30 % reservations in the
house of 60, five of whom are the wives of the corporators
and the others are related to some the political leaders. I C o m i M M D . PARTY QBGAHIZATIQHS
The constitution of all the political parties mention the organizational structure of the party at length. The constitutions of the B.J.P,, Janata Dal and Congress have special provisions ensuring the representation of wouen in the party organization at various levels of the party hierarchy. The remaining political parties have not taken cognisance of women in their constitutions. In case of Shiv
Sena, Peasants and Workers Party, Dalit Panther, Republican
Party of India, etc. the number of women activists in the organization is also less. The participation of women is slightly better in case of C.P.I. and C.P.I.(M) as compared to these parties. However, the constitutions of these parties do not make any special provisions for women. We find a better representation in the B.J.P., Congress-I and the Janata Dal. In case of the Janata Dal and the Congress-
1, Maharashtra has witnessed women Presidents of State units of the party, but it is more of an exception rather than common practice. The widely prevalent practice is that of having one woman Vice-President out of 7 or 8 Vice-
Presidents. It will be worthwhile to examine the position of women in the important political parties in Maharashtra.
IHDIAH tj&TIQHAL CQHGRESS m
The constitution of Congress has made special provisions to ensure the representation of women at various levels of party organization. The Articles IX, XA and XIA li'G about the District Congress Coffimittee, Provincial Committee and All India Congress Committee respectively, provide that as many as 15% of the number prescribed for various coiriiriittees can be appointed to the committees, if the sections like women, youth, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, religious minorities etc. do not get adequate representation on the committee in the normal course of selection. At least half of such number to be appointed to the committee, must be women. The Congress has also organized its women workers in the Mahila Congress. The
Mahila Congress has been structured upto the Tahsil level and thus is better organized than the Mahila Morcha of the
B.J.P. The reason lies in the fact that the Congress has got a century-old tradition of women's participation and the
B.J.P. is relatively a new party that was established after the establishment of the Socialist Party, the C.P.I., the
P.W.P. etc.
Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu and Indira Gandhi have worked as party Presidents, though none of them hail from
Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, Smt. Premalatai Chavan and
Pratibha Patil have worked as State Presidents of MPCC. In the recently formed and immediately dissolved MPCC with Shri
Sushilkumar Shinde as President, there was one Vice-
President out of 8 and one woman Joint Secretary out of 6.
There were 6 women members out of total 42. The MPCC with
Smt, Pratibha Patil as the President had the maximum number of women office-bearers though the number of total members 1 V/ / of MPCC was not very high. There were 2 women as General
Secretaries, 2 as Secretaries and one was sinply a nember.
Thus out of 44, there were only 6 women. There is no woman- nember of the Working Committee of the AICC from
Maharashtra. Presently, there are 2 women HLAs and one woman HP of Congress. Congress has returned the maximum number of women MLAs to the Assembly of Maharashtra over all these years.
BHARATIYA JAHATA EARXY:
The constitution of the B.J.P. provides for the representation of women from the level of Assembly constituency upto the national level. The Articles 14(1),
15(1) and 17(1) mention the provisions whereby starting from the Mandal Samiti upto national executive, each body should consist of at least 2 women. In addition to this, it also provides for the formation of the women's wing called
Bharatiya Janata Hahila Morcha with its own office-bearers and committees. The Morcha is organized from the local level upto the national level.
In case of theI B.J.P. the state executive with Shri Gopinath Mundhe as President, there was one woman Vice-
President and 4 members in addition to 2 women members of the national executive. Presently, with Shri H.S.Pharande as State President, again there is one woman Vice-President and 10 women members in the State executive of 51. More important is the fact that there are 2 women Presidents of 1(18 District units of the party. The party boasts that 3 out of the 6 women MLAs in Maharasthra belong to the B.J.P.
Smt. Vijayaraje Shinde, elected HP from Madhya Pradesh who was the All India Vice-President of the party till recently, belongs to the innernost core of the party. In the newly formed national executive with Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi as the party President, Smt. Jayawantiben Mehta an HP from
Bombay has been appointed as the All India Secretary. Smt.
Sushiltai Athavale from Pune is the member of the of the national executive. The party has got its well-organized women's wing Bharatiya Janata Mahila Morcha. B.J.P. is supposed to have maximum number of women, particularly in
Maharashtra as compared to all other parties. dM AlA QAL:
Janata Dal in Maharashtra has a significant woman leadership with Smt. Mrinal Gore as the State President.
The Congress Socialist Party that was formed way back in
1934 finds its manifestation in the present-date Janata Dal.
The Janata Dal has got many women workers who are actively involved in the service of Samajwadi Mahila Sabha. At present, the State executive of the Janata Dal has as many as 14 women members out of the total 48. Out of these 14, 2 women are Muslim. There is also one women who is working as
District President. The Socialist party has definitely given two prominent women, who are quite versatile and capable, the State President, Smt. Mrinal Gore and and ex- MP Smt. Pramila Dandawate. The former Socialist Party has 109 many examples of women workers who married the men in the
Socialist movement and shaped their personal life while assigning top priority to their socio-political activity.
Both these women leaders belong to this category.
CQHHUHIST PARTY Q£ IHDIA
The constitution of the C.P.I. does not make any special provisions for the participation women in the party organization. Though the women's department of the party takes care of the participation of women, there is tremendous disparity between the political participation of male comrades and women comrades. Presently, there are 6 women on the State Council of 125. There is only one woman in the State executive of 31. Out of the State secretariat of 9 members again there is only one woman, i.e. Smt. Tara
Reddy.
The report of the commission on Organization as adopted on March 9, 1989 in the XlVth Congress of the C.P.I. expresses a grave concern of poor representation of women in the party cadre. The report says that 3% women membership is not only the reflection of social backwardness of women in India, but also their neglect by the party. Though the number of women participating in the demonstrations of the party has increased over a period of time, their participation has not remained consistent. There are no women in the State and District Councils in many places, and 110 wherever they are represented, their number is insignificant. The report further urges that the leadership at various levels must realise this great handicap and nake special efforts to draw more women especially from the toiling classes. There are very few whole-timers and even though a woman comrade is willing, the party committees do not recruit her. Some committees consider it unnecessary to pay allowance to a woman whole-timer, when her husband is also a whole-timer. The report is really quite vocal about the disparities existing within the party organization which is striving for egalitarian ideal.
CQMMUHIST PARTY QZ IHDIA CHfttfKIST)
Maharashtra is not a stronghold of the leftist parties.
By and large Maharashtra has remained very loyal to the
Congress. The C.P.I.(M) is very weak in Maharashtra as compared to its strength in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura,
The participation of women in the C.P.I.(M) Maharashtra unit is negligible, their membership being oust 1%. All India percentage of women members is merely 5% which is as high as
10% in West Bengal and Kerala. In the Central Committee of the C.P.I.(M) there are 6 women, out of the total 60 members. There is no woman in the Politbureau of the party which has got 17 members. In the secretariat of Maharashtra there are 2 women both of them very senior workers, namely
Ahilya Rangnekar and Godavari Parulekar. No special encouragement is given to the women activists. However, it was learnt from Comrade P .B .Rangnekar that late Shri Ill A.K.Gopalan a member of Politbureau was very much concerned about this issue of participation of women and he used to plead that different criteria should be adopted while appointing a male and a female comrade in any office. Even while assessing their performance different criteria should be employed. Male comrade has got all the time in the world, if he fails to perform his duties, it is his lapse, but if she fails it is not solely her lapse because the system has put all the burden on her shoulders. However,
C.P.I.(M) has not taken any concrete measures to bring this realization about the neglect of women by party organization in actual practice.
SHIV SEHA:
Recently Shiv Sena got the status of the state party.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that Shiv Sena is a political party of men. At least till recently this was the case with the organization of the party. After the 1990 elections, the strength of Shiv Sena increased tremendously in terms of the number of Shiv Sena HLAs in the Assembly of
Maharashtra. Though earlier confined merely to Bombay, Shiv
Sena has not managed to reach even the remotest parts of
Maharashtra. Shiv Sena is particularly strong in the
Municipal Corporations of Bombay, Thane and Aurangabad. The participation of women was totally neglected by the party, which has its strong base among the unemployed youth, mostly <■1 belonging to the Other Backward Castes. Some consideration to the participation of women was given on the eve of Lok
Sabha elections of 1989. Now the decision of 30% political reservations for women in the rural and urban local bodies, has rudely awakened the party that had so far turned blind eye and deaf ear to the participation of women. Now the party is very busy in forming women's wings at all the places.
One important fact must be noted while analyzing the low participation of women in Shiv Sena. The caste base of
Shiv Sena is in the OBCs and so far the OBCs as caste group have not been politically mobilized, except for the recent riots following the declaration about the implementation of the recommendations of Mandal Commission. The Brahmins as well as the Dalits register higher percentage of political participation in politics of Maharashtra, which can be attributed to the early social reforms movement that originated primarily in the Brahmins and the movement for social justice that originated among the Dalits. Naturally the women from these castes were also more socialized politically. Though the Maratha caste has remained very conservative till today, the politics of Maharashtra being generally dominated by Maratha caste, even the Maratha women from the, prominent Maratha families of feudal lords though not an average Maratha woman - got an opportunity to taste the political power. The OBC women did not experience any of these things and the local level of their 113 participation can be attributed to this. Secondly, earlier, the Shiv Sena used to give an impression of being a mob of rowdy youth - an image which is likely to shy away any cultured person - leave alone women. But over a period of time the complexion of Shiv Sena has changed with the increasing involvement of the educated middle class in the party units in the cities like Bombay and Thane. Shiv Sena has also made a systematic efforts to change its image by giving certain constructive programmes and services to the people. Almost all over Maharashtra Shiv Sena has started various activities like public newspaper stands, libraries, free guidance course for SSC students* facility of ambulance
- these can be quoted as relevant examples. Following the reservation of seats for women in the local self government institutions, Shiv Sena is bound to take concrete steps in the direction of making its image more appealing to women.
However, it should not be neglected that way back in
1972, the Sena had fielded Smt. Sudha Churi from Malad.
Recently, the Sena had fielded 4 women candidates, out of the total of 185 in the 1990 elections. Surprisingly, though it was wooing the Hindu vote bank, throughout its election campaign, at times even going to the extent scaring the Muslim votes away, it was the only party that fielded a
Muslim woman in this election. Smt. Anoum Ahmed contested the election as the Sena candidate from Nagpada. In that election the other women candidates of Shiv Sena were
Rajmata Kalpanaraje Bhosale from Satara, Smt. Vimal Wani j 4 from Shrirampur and Smt. Shobhatai Naik from Shirala.
Shobhatai Haik had to face Indutai Patankar of C.P.I. in this election. Sponsoring 4 women in the Assembly election is indicative of the beginning of the process of involvement of women in Shiv Sena - a process which is likely to gain momentum with the view of the political reservations for the women.
PEASANTS m i WORKERS PARTY (PWP):
The PWP is another State party in Maharashtra which is marked by the paucity of women at all levels of party hierarchy. The constitution of the party does not provide for any special measures to ensure greater involvement of women. The PWP is no longer as strong as it was in the late
50s. Even at that time it was not a well knit or well structured party and no special efforts were made to encourage women for the party work. Women who were active were essentially from the political families and used to work for the party not response of the efforts of the party for recruiting women, but due to their self motivation coupled with encouragement from their family.
Today the PWP is prominent only in some small pockets in the State. The most important being Raigad district. It also has small bases in some parts of Solapur district and
Marathawad. The party is primarily based in rural areas and the tradition bound rural Maharashtra with rigid gender related norms and roles is likely to be the major obstabcle i V o in the political participation of women in addition to the lack of mobility and financial resources necessary to bear the cost of participation. In view of this lack of involvement of women it is natural that the PWP has not fielded many women in the Assembly elections. Smt.
Vimalabai Bagal an independent MLA supported by the Samyukta
Maharashtra Samiti in 1957 had contested the 1972 elections as the PMP candidate from Kagal constituency, but she could not get elected. In 1967 elections there was Anjanabai
Pandit who was the PWP candidate from Edlabad. She contested the 1978 election as well. But she was defeated both the times. Later in 1980 and 1985 Assembly elections we do not find any PWP candidate. In 1990 elections PWP sponsored Smt. Vasanti Gavande from Jalamb who could not get elected.
After the decision of political reservations for women
Smt. Meenakshi Patil daughter of Prabhakar Patil and niece of Datta Patil, both prominent PWP leaders, has started mobilizing the women in Raigad district. She also represents the PWP in the meetings called by the Shetkari
Sanghatana in this connection. How it can be expected that in near futur, there will be a considerable rise in the number of women workers in the PWP.
REP13BLICAH PAETY Q£ t E E L l :
A number of factions of RPI and Dalit Panther are active in Maharashtra. However, none of them has got 1 u recognition as the State party. The Dalit parties have not had any noticeable inpact on the politics of Maharashtra.
The parties are not well structured. They are more like a movement confined to the Dalit community. Today there is not a single women leader among all the Dalit parties taken together. Till December 1989 Dr. Neelam Gorhe a feminist activist was the General Secretary of the RPI (Ambedkar).
Today there is none. The dark political future of the women in the Dalit parties became guite visible when at the massive Dalit rally held by all the Dalit parties at Shivaji
Park in Bombay on 19th December 1989, not a single woman leader was there amongst those who were sitting on the dias.
However, this does not indicate the degree of participation of women in the Dalit parties. In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the percentage of women participating in the rallies, morchas and demonstrations is the highest as compared to all other parties. But no efforts are taken to see that some of these women are elevated to the leadership roles.
The Dalit parties have not yet returned even a single women to the Assembly though they have fielded women candidate now and then. In 1967 election we find Smt.
Shantabai Dani from Deolali and Smt. S.S.More from Bhusawl who contested the elctions as the RPI candidates. Both were defeated. However, later Smt. Shantabai Dani was nominated
to the Legislative Council. In 1972 Smt. Sushila Khobragade
from the Khobragade faction of RPI and Gitabai Gaikwad, 117 Bundibai Chavan, Satyabhamabai More and Shanta Doye were fielded by the Ambedkar faction of the RPI. None of them could get elected. In 1978 Assembly elections Kalawati
Khandre was the candidate of the RPI Khobragade. In 1980
Lok Sabha election Smt. Kamal Gawai, wife of Raukrishna
Gawai, the Chairman of the Legislative Council and the leader of the Gawai faction of the RPI contested the election from Amravati. She was also defeated. In 1985 elections we do not come across any RPI candidates, but in
1990 Assembly election we find Smt. Malatitai Ingle as the
Ambedkar faction candidate from Khamgaon. She could not get elected.
There is an acute need for emergence of female Dalit leadership among the Dalit parties. Though Dr. Neelam Gorhe was there, she was not Dalit leader, but she was a Brahmin leader of the Dalits. Some promising Dalit women should be carefully selected and well groomed for the leadership roles. But whether the fragmented Dalit parties have the will as well as the ability to do it remains to be seen.
The relative position of the women in different party organizations reveals that generally women had remained on the perriphery of the party. They do not have very significant positions. Surprisingly, in case of the leftist parties like the C.P.I.and the C.P.I.(M) whoi adhere to the principle of equality we do not find women in equal number status or authority with respect to men. No woman has managed to enter the innermost core of the party at the 8 highest levei. On the other hand, in a party like Congress we see the examples of women who managed to reach the top and worked as the Party Presidents as well as the Presidents of the provincial committees. Even in the Rightist party like the B.J.P. we find the example of Smt. Vijayaraje
Shinde who was the part and parcel of the decision making team along with L.K.Advani and A.B.Bajpai. On this background we shall consider the case of the women militants in the political parties in Maharashtra. 1 . 1 9
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2. Ibid,
3. Ibid, 195.
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6. Ibid, p . 195.
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11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid. 1£0
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46. Sakai, 3rd Feb. 1990.
47. R a o , Saudamini, (1981) op cit. Pp. 8-11.
48. Interview, Jaydeo Gaikawad. Oct.1990.
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50. I b i d . p .
51. Bhagwat, Vidyut (1989) "Maharashtrateal Striyanchya Chalvalicha
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52. Ibid.
53. Datar Chhaya (1985), "Stree Mukti Yatra Kunachi ?" Ruohi, March,
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54. Rishwa Madhu, Op cit P. 24.
55. Kothari Rajani (1989), Politics and People, Pp. 386-389. i s i
56. Bhagwat Vidyut, (1989) op cat.
57. Patil, Leela. ( 1969). " Grairiin Stree Muktichya Shodhat
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58. Patankar Indutai (1967), "Confrontly Make Power" No. 25, Nov-
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59. Rahiiriatpure Mumtaz (1981) ” Muslim Stree Va Dalit Stree
Asmitadar-sha, Diwali 1987, Pp. 105-108.
60. Kishwar, Madhu (1984) "The Nature of Woman's Mobilization in
Rural Women , p. 11.
61 . Ibid p. 11-12.
62. Women's Questions, Shetkari Sanghatana Prakashan Aug. 86, p. 1.
63. Ibid, p.4.
64. "Charadwadchi Shindari", Shetkari Sanghatana Prakashan.
65. Women's Questions, Shetkari Sanghatana Prakashan. p.15.
66. Ibid, p .25.
67. Patil, Sharad (1986) "Don Mahila Parishada", Satyashodhak
Marxvadi, Dec. 1986, P.2
68. Patil Sharad (1989) "Adivasi - Dalit Striyanohe Prashna",
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69. Ibid. 70. Deshmukh> Shrikant (1990) "ohetkari Sanghatana Ek Abhyas", an
M.Phil. Dissertation submitted to the Marathwada University,
Aug. 1990, p. 130-138.
71. The Times of India, Pune Plus. 26th Sept. 1990 p.l
72. Ibid.
73 . I b i d .
74. Interview Dr. Vidyut Bhagwat, 25th Sept. 1930, Pune.
75. Patil Sharad (1989), op cit p.69.
76. Ibid.
77. Interview Dr. Vidyut Bhagwat.
78. Bhagwat, Vidyut. (1989) "The Wave of Samagra Mahila Aghadi" p.4.
79. Kishwar Madhu op cit p . 18.
80. Ibid.
81. Interview Dr. Vidyut Bhagwat.
82. Kishwar Madhu, p. 19.
83. Ibid p . 20.
84. Interview Dr. Vidyut Bhagwat.
85. Tulpule, Malini.(1989) . op oit. p. 191.
86. InaiTidarj H . R,. ( 1989). op oit. p. 198.
87. Ibid. 1 <
88. Maharashtra Tiiries.
89. Digest of Maharashtra Acts Vol. XVII Ho,l, 20th June, 1990,
Pp. 9-10
90. Times of India>Pune Plus 30th Aug. 1990.
91. Tillies of India, Pune Plus, 1st Sept. 1990.
92. Interview, Shri. Narayan Rharade. Pune. Sept. 1990.
93. Times of India Pune Plus, 1st Sept. 1990.
94. Ibid.
95. Ibid.
96. Times of India Pune Plus 31st Aug. 1990.
97. Times of India Pune Plus 1st Sept. 1990.
98. Maharashtra Times 4th Sept. 1990.
99. Ibid.
100. Maharashtra Times 16.9.90.
101. Maharashtra Times 4th Sept. 1990.
102. Ibid.
103. Ibid.