Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Harinder Kaur ‘Bindu’ from Punjab, who spearheaded the farmers’ protest from Tikri, has maintained that farmers should remain ever vigilant as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is sure to bring back the three controversial farm laws after 2024.
Inaugurating the eighth State conference of the Progressive Organisation for Women (POW) here on Saturday, chaired by its president N. Vishnu, she said ''There can be no room for complacency following the repeal of the three farm laws by the Narendra Modi government. The farm laws will be back in the statute book if the BJP retains power at the Centre in the next elections,'' she cautioned.
It was women farmers who had played a pivotal role during the year-long protest by pitching a camp on the outskirts of Delhi and maintaining the food supply chain forcing the ruling BJP to make a retreat, she said, adding big corporate firms had put in place elaborate infrastructure seeing big business in agri-marketing. Corporatisation of agriculture and natural resources had to be fought tooth and nail in the larger interest of small and marginal farmers and landless labourers who eked out a living with dignity now, she said while referring to stirs being organised against the water policy of the Aam Admi Party government in Punjab.
A positive spinoff of the stir was that it brought about unity among the farmers from Punjab and Haryana and a better understanding of women's contribution in the States where patriarchial social order ruled the roost.
Social activist Zeba Afrin said many forms of violence against women, custodial violence involving rape and molestation had been on the increase. A majority of the offences had been committed by known people. After so many laws and codes were brought in, women were still being harassed, she said.
Referring to CAA-NRC movement, she alleged that CAA Bill was to target Muslims irrespective of whether they had their documents or not. ‘‘If the objective is to help people from countries which have a State religion, why not minorities from Sri Lanka included? Why is it for every religion except for Muslims? If this is an attack on Muslims today, tomorrow it will be an attack on Jews, Christians and women,” she feared.
The activists led by POW national convenor V. Sandhya paid tributes to the women who had died fighting for a fair deal for the gender.
Activists of the sister organisation Arunodaya sang and danced highlighting various social issues.
