Election bells ring shrilly, as politicians compete to make derogatory, provocative, communal and divisive campaign speeches. The much-awaited ‘achhe din’ are nowhere to be seen. This government has brought one policy after another to curb the freedom of speech, to infringe on our rights, and to strengthen corporations, money launderers and loan defaulters. Demonetisation has broken the back of farmers and traders. 88 lakh women have lost their jobs.
Mumbai is the perfect example when one talks about “Development for whom?” The city’s only green cover, Aarey, is slowly being removed. The government plans to spend Rs.12,000 crores on a coastal road for car owners even as BEST buses are being privatised. Roads are perennially dug up. Bridges collapse like a house of cards, crushing not just bodies, but the dreams of citizens who merely wanted decent infrastructure. Citizens are forced to live in the toxic hell of Mahul. And drought looms in rural Maharashtra. We are seeing a grim picture of what the future holds: man-made disasters, irreversible climate change, and structural violence of the worst kind.
In recent years, especially since the Modi government was elected, women’s bodies and minds have suffered extreme violence: be it Fatima Nafees, awaiting her missing son’s return, or Radhika Vemula, whose son sacrificed his life for an accessible and egalitarian education system; be it Rakbar’s family, who lost him to Hindutva hatred, or Junaid’s mother Saira Banu, who still awaits justice; be it the families of the protestors killed in Niyamgiri, or Adivasi women, who routinely face threats of eviction; be it women silenced by draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or impacted by police brutality, or unequal wages. We are constantly reminded that we are targets for the most brutal violence, just for being women. The government has introduced the regressive Trans Bill, and has directly attacked the livelihood of economically disadvantaged women, all under the garb of ‘protection’.
Ours is a country where the perpetrators of caste atrocities, sexual abuse, and lynching have barely been brought to book, while the system keeps attacking victims of such violence… But, WE are a land of women who are hurting, but not defeated.
The mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand showed us how it is possible to build solidarity in adversity. They showed how, when leaders are empathetic, minorities can feel safe, and that no disaster is so bad that a nation cannot at least grieve together. However, in this country, all we got was war cries and calls for revenge. Politics was played over corpses that soon became campaign poster material. War is glorified without any thought to people who would die like cannon fodder. Well, bellies can’t be filled with blood. And there is hardly a crime worse than the millions of people going to sleep hungry every night. The current regime has deepened these crises. Instead of true development indicators like food, nutrition, and health, all we hear is rhetoric. How we are threatened by an abstract enemy, and how we must support Modi in fighting this enemy. Who is truly the enemy, one wonders.
It is time to take stock of everything we have lost, of opportunities that failed to arise, of the hatred that was delivered to our doorsteps like cow meat. It is time to count the lives we have lost and the ones we are at risk of losing. And, it is time to take charge, take control of the future that lies before us. What can we do differently?
The farmers have marched, the workers are marching, and now it is our time to march, as women, gender-conforming and non-binary people who are oppressed by the patriarchy. As the elections loom, we march for constitutional values. Our vote is all the more important, because it was hard won. We march for peace, justice and equality. We march for food, health, and education. We march for disability rights and mental health. We march because no act of terror is stronger than our convictions. We march for love!
Adivasi Students Forum, TISS; AIDWA; Awaaz-E-Niswaan; Bebaak Collective; Church in the City;Citizens for Justice and Peace; CORO India; Forum against Oppression of Women;Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan; Indian Christian Women’s Movement; Jagnyacha Hakkache Andolan;LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective; Lokanche Dost; Majlis; Molkarin Sanghatana;National Federation of Indian Women; National Hawkers Federation; One Future Collective;Prabodhan Yuva Sangh, Kalina; PUCL Maharashtra; Satyashodhak Resource Centre; TISS Queer Collective; TISS Students Union; Tribal Women’s Collective, TISS; Urja Org; YWCA
Women March: Bombay 