New Delhi, 18 January (Sangrami Lehar Bureau)- All over the country and at Delhi’s borders, the ongoing farmers’ movement being led by Samyukt Kisan Morcha celebrated 18th January as Women Farmers’ Day. At all protest sites, the dais was managed by women today, and all speakers were women. All over the country, women led rallies, held dharnas and meetings etc.
The overwhelming participation of women showcased the agency of women and their active participation and leadership in the ongoing movement. Women farmers expressed their deep dissatisfaction and anger at the attitude of the government and Supreme Court in not recognizing women’s agency in various spheres including in such citizen movements.
In Madhya Pradesh, in Badwani, Khargone and other places, women farmers took out a huge rally in Badwani and other places. In Maharashtra, in Nandurbar district also, women farmers took out a rally with bullock carts driven by women farmers. In Rajasthan, there was a tractor rally led by women-driven tractors.
In Puri of Odisha, women farmers’ day was celebrated in various villages. In Rewari of Haryana, dharnas were organized at toll plazas.
Women farmers’ day was marked in Hyderabad by a huge number of urban women joining hands with women farmers in a rally. Similarly, other places in Telangana like Ibrahimpatnam saw women farmers’ rally at the town centre.
In Mahendragarh district of Haryana too, mass meetings of women farmers were organized. Such meetings were witnessed in Jaunpur of Uttar Pradesh too. Rallies were taken out in Allahabad, UP.
Gwalior in MP and Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and other places in Bihar saw sit-ins of women farmers.
In Uttarakhand, women organized a dharna in Munsiari.
A Mahila Kisan Parishad was organized in Pune and a Mahila Kisan Sansad in Kolkata on this occasion. In Andhra Pradesh, in numerous places, women farmers marked the day in different ways in places like Anantapur, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam etc.