: If Gandhiji were here, he would have been at the forefront of the struggle waged by women plantation workers in Munnar, poet Sugathakumari has said.
She was speaking after inaugurating a public meeting organised to express solidarity with the agitation launched by Penkal Otrumai, the women workers’ collective.
The struggle was that of the poor who had nothing to lose, Ms. Sugathakumari said.
The question that begged to be asked was where were the trade unions before the women went on an agitation, and what they had done to ameliorate the condition of the women, Ms. Sugathakumari said.
The women workers were also looked down because they spoke Tamil. Their living conditions were dismal.
She asked if there was anyone to speak out for the women. Instead of political parties expressing their supporting for the agitation, a blame game was taking place, she said.
Before things took a turn for the worse and lives were lost, the rightful demands of the agitating women in Munnar should be secured, Ms. Sugathakumari said.
B. Rajeevan, writer, said the struggle by the women workers was a new phenomenon in Kerala politics.
Political leaders and trade unions looked upon their struggle with fear, but it should be approached without the apprehension that it would result in chaos and be taken forward.
The struggle by the women was not political; what was political was the attacks on them and denying them food and water, he said.
These women were exploited twice over because they were workers and women, he said.
