Opinion Ela Bhatt: A gentle revolutionary who changed millions of lives

Elaben was much inspired by Ramesh Bhatt, a student leader, who she later married and who became her emotional and intellectual companion. After graduation, Elaben joined the Textile Labour Association (or Majoor Mahajan) and Rameshbhai joined the Gujarat Vidyapeeth in Ahmedabad. The TLA, a trade union of mill workers founded by Anasuya Sarabhai whose constitution was written by Gandhiji, was Elaben’s learning ground, there she understood the elements of organizing, of the importance of a trade union, or poor people and workers coming together to give each other strength, to create a voice and to negotiate for rights. It was here that she first met women from the unorganized or informal economy, women who pulled carts or sold vegetables or stitched garments, and saw how poor and yet hardworking they were.

Self-Employed Women’s Association or SEWA was her creation. Starting as a small organization in 1972 it has been built into a nationwide, indeed a worldwide movement of women working at the base of the pyramid. She often recalled organising a meeting with women vendors and cart pullers who said “We want a Majoor Mahajan of our own”. She was amazed when they all opened their little bundles and pulled out 25 paise each as a contribution to their new union. However, as she worked closely with these women she realized that just fighting for rights was not enough. There were no laws protecting them and the mindset of employers, of the authorities such as the municipality and police was totally exploitative.

Elaben had visited Israel a few years previously and seen the working of cooperatives with trade unions. As she thought about how she could really help these women, she began to work with the idea of creating cooperatives. But where to start? Unlike today, there was no financial inclusion for them. They had nowhere to put their savings and collected notes often eaten up by rats or stolen by family members. They had to get their loans from moneylenders at unimaginable interest rates. And yet when she tried to link them with the newly nationalized banks, they faced mostly rejections.

Elaben often remembers a large meeting of the women on the banks of Sabarmati River where the women told her “We are poor but so many we can collect shares and form our own bank”. And Elaben had the courage, indeed the audacity, to actually help the women form a cooperative bank.

She has been called a gentle revolutionary, and indeed both her ideas and her actions were revolutionary. However, I do not think the term ‘gentle’ suited her. She was never violent, she was never cruel or even rude, but she could be very fierce in protecting her people. When the police removed the street vendors from Manekchowk she took us all to the municipality, who sent us to the police, who sent us back to the municipality in an endless loop. “This will not work” she said “ We must take direct action”. We had another night meeting and Elaben led us all to squat in Manekchowk regardless of police batons and Municipal vans.

She gave the world the path with which to reach out and change the lives of the poorest and she called it “Struggle and Development through the path of Non-Violence and Truth”. This path has been replicated not only in Gujarat where she began but all over India and even in many parts of the world.

And she practised what she preached. In 1981 there were violent anti-reservation riots in Gujarat. Elaben saw that the truth was that Dalits were being discriminated against, that they were the poorest in society, and in a TV interview she declaimed “ Until Brahmin women like me are ready to sweep the streets, reservations should remain”. There was a violent reaction to her words and mobs came every night to stone her house. I was very young and this made me very angry. One day, without telling her, a friend and I climbed onto her roof with a pile of stones intending to pelt the mob when they came. Fortunately, Elaben and Rameshbhai found out in time and came rushing up to scold us and give us a lecture on non-violence! Her way of dealing with the mob, was to go out and talk to them!

As a revolutionary she realized that actions alone were not enough, the main problem, as she said, were ‘mindsets’. She needed to change the ideas and mindsets that were reflected in laws, policies and attitudes. She became an articulate spokesperson for these invisible women.

Recognition and honours began to arrive. In 1977 she won the Magsaysay award, later the Padmashri and the Padma Bhushan. She was appointed as a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, at the international level she was honoured with degrees from Harvard and Yale, she was appointed as a member of “The Elders” an international group started by Nelson Mandela. And through all this, her only concern was to promote the cause of her women. As a Rajya Sabha member, she introduced bills for street vendors and for home-based workers. Through all her efforts the Street Vendors bill did become law. When she received the Padmashri, the only thing she asked for was a Commission on women in the unorganized sector, and she produced the first All-India study called Shram Shakti in 1988, a classic even today.

Elaben recognized the importance of organizing the poor workers. What she started in Ahmedabad, she brought to the rest of the world, inspiring international federations of street vendors, home based workers, domestic workers, and rag pickers. She made her presence felt in international forums such as the International Labour Organisation where she succeeded in getting a Convention for home-based workers. Recognising the need to change mindsets world wide she founded WIEGO an international network of researchers, policymakers and activists.

Perhaps Elaben’s greatest achievement is that she changed millions of lives. Empowering poor working women, certainly, but also many educated and professional women who joined her movement and took it forward. Last year, SEWA celebrated 50 years of achievement, but Elaben, at the age of 88 was still looking forward…. “Let us think of what change we want to bring in the next fifty years, who are the people we need and let us inspire many women as well as men to join us in that change”