The Anti-Price-RiseMovement in Bombay

By Usha Mehta and Usha Thakkar

Sharon Fernandez, Untitled, 1991, Ink on Paper

Le soulevement de 1972 contre la hausse des prixen!nde hait unmouvement de protestation unique et sans precedent lance pourreparer les torts causes au peuple en general et auxfemmes enparticulier. Cette revolte spontaneedesfemmesdeBombayaprisdes mesures concretes etmobilisedesparticipantespourrealiserson objecti[ Meme si ce mouvement n'etait pas motive par uneideologie particuliere, il visait cl promouvoir le bien-etre de lapopulation en s'opposant cl une politique gouvernementaleinequitable.

When an economic crisis arises, women become the first victims.In 1972 in Bombay, women's tolerance had reached the breakingpoint. On August 6, 1972, in response to the situation, BharatiyaMahilaFederation-a leading all-India women's organization­called a meeting of all parties and independents. MeenakshiSane-President of the organization, fervently appealed to thepeople, and especially to women, to co-operate with the Federa­tion in fighting the monster of rising prices. The meeting calledupon the government to adopt rationing for essential commodi­ties. It was pointed out that what was happening was contrary tothe much publicizedGaribiHatao (RemovePoverty) programmeof the ruling party.

After about a month's time, on September 13, 1972, repre­sentatives of about 70 wom­en's organizations came to­gether and formed theMahagai Pratikar SamyutkaSamiti-The Anti-Price RiseWomen's United Front-tofight rising prices, and also tobring prices down. Womenwere invited to join the frontnot as members of any politi­cal party, but as women and asmembers of women's organi­zations.Women from allwalksof life: housewives and work­ing women, domestic servantsandmill-workers, teachers andstudents, social workers andpolitical leaders ralliedaroundthe common cause.

Though the immediate aimof the movement, as stated by

VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1

its President Mrinal Gore, was to make essential commoditiesavailable and bring down the prices by bringing pressure on thegovernment, the ultimate aim was to organize a powerful wom­en's movement as had been done in Japan. As she observed,"Anti-price rise movement is not an end in itself. It is my dreamto build up a strong women's movement through it"

Many and varied were the techniques adopted for the move­ment From peaceful meetings and conferences to dharnas (sit­ins), deputations to Ministers and heads of big companies,ghearaos (surrounding a person by fonning a human chain) andbandhs (stoppages), many ingenious and innovative tactics whichexcited the participants and evoked public sympathy were triedsuccessfully.

Several public meetings and conferences were held atdifferentplaces in the city during the movement. Women from all classesand localities, of different age groups and interest groups at­tended the meetings in the thousands. In mostof them, the leadersof the front exhorted women not to slacken their efforts and to beprepared for a long and arduous struggle.

Resolutions suggesting various measures such as passing a lawon price ceilings, on the distribution of land among the landless,collection of tax from tax evaders, reduction in indirect taxes,banishment of corrupt officers and ministers, strict implementa­

tion ofthe lawsalready passed,and others, were adopted. TheGovernment was warned ofdire consequences if thesewere not carried out and if thefraud committed against thepeople was not stopped forth­with.

On October 5,1972, a largedemonstration was organizedin the heart of the city. Themajority of the demonstratorswere from the working classand they not only travelledlong distances to participatein the dharna, but also losttheir day's wages. This wasthe first part of the protest.

Demonstrations continuedfor the next three years. Theywereorganizedon a large scale

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and involved persons from different sec­tors ofsociety. Again, demonstrators fromthe working class often travelled longdistances to participate in them and werenot concerned about losing their day'swages.

With the increase in the price of milk in1973, the agitation gathered new momen­tum. Undeterred by threats and wamings,women entered the Aarey Milk Colony (agovernment undertaking) and stoppedthree trucks from leaving. They accusedthe government of progressively reduc­ing the fat content in the milk with a viewto selling low fat milk at a higher price.The Agricultural Minister was gheraoedin his Chamber on the 17th of January1973 for more than four hours by 30women who demanded a reduction in theprice of milk. They also demanded theresignation of the Minister, who accord­ing to them, was in league with the afflu­ent sectors of society.

On the 12th of February, 1973, womenwere heard shouting slogans on the roadslike "Reduce the prices or resign","Cheaperliquordearermilk-Naik(ChiefMinister) Government shame, shame."Later, the leaders of the procession sub­mitted a memorandum to the Speaker ofthe Legislative Assembly protesting the"unbecoming, ungraceful and anti-Social­ist policy of the government" of lettingprices rise.

The agitation outside was matched bystormy scenes inside the MaharashtraAssembly in March 1973 when the housediscussed an opposition-sponsored mo­tion regarding the detection of dhatura(seeds with narcotic properties) in im­ported milo (sorghum). Mrinal Gore, thePresident of the Front. questioned thegovernment on the issue. Again, in May1973, she showed the government a sam­ple of rice containing iron filings boughtfrom a ration-shop in the city. As a resultof this move, nearly 400 tons of rice werewithdrawn from the city's ration shops.

Throughout, women showed not onlytheir courage and self-confidence but alsotheir ingenuity and innovativeness. Apartfrom the use of traditional methods ofprotest like morchas (protest marches),demonstrationsandgheraos, they inventednovel methods and symbols to expresstheir feelings of anger, thus proving thatwomen can become effective revolution­aries.

In February 1974, a thali (plate)-beat­ing programme was organized simultane­ously at more than 1,000 places in the city.At 10:00 p.m. sharp, women beat thaliswith rolling pins. The sound of the musiccontinued for half an hour. This was awarning bell-Ishara Ghanta----for thegovernment and a call to the people not tosuffer the injustice of the government. butto awaken,ariseandjoin the protestmove­ment With a view to focussing the atten­tion of the people and the government onacute shortages ofkerosene, on August 1,1974, women saw to it that the Sachivalya(Government Secretariat) corridors vi­brated with the sound of clanging emptykerosene tins, which they beat with roll­ing-pins and small sticks.

In April, 1974, the effigies of ChiefMinister Naik and Food and Civil Sup­plies Minister Vartak were the focus of aKachara-tula (weighing in dirt) ceremonywhich attracted the attention of the media.

On 11th September 1974, more than8,000 women of all sectors of societyincluding, Hindu, Muslim and Christianwomen,joined the historic protestmorchawearing badges depictinga woman's handholding a rolling pin and enthusiasticallyshouting slogans like ''Tell Naik, rollingpins are here", "Nahi Chalegi, NahiChalegi, Yeh Sar/car Nahi Chalegi" (ThisGovernment cannot last), "PavDo GehuDo,NahiToGadiChhodDo" (Givebread,give wheat or else quit). This massivedemonstration was a feather in the cap ofthe women's front and proved to be asevere headache for the traffic police andthe government.

In April 1975, several thousand farm­labourers and tribals from different partsof Maharashtra marched with Bombay'shousewives and industrial workers to theLegislature Building to demand the resto­ration of forest land to tribals and a rationofseven kg. ofgrainperpersonpermonth.

The demonstrations attracted the atten­tion of the general public and evokedsympathy from all quarters. The agitationhad resonance in otherparts of the state ofMaharashtra, including Poona, Nagpur,Dhulia, Pusad, Aurangabad, Jalna,Amravati, and Yeotmal. Also, the leaderswere successful in obtaining assurancesfrom the ministers concerned regardingbetter food distribution. Again, officerswere sent to different places to find outwhether the complaints made by front

members regarding the supply of inferiorquality grains were true.

Though it is true that the anti-price risemovement could not accomplish all that ithad intended, and that it ended with theDeclaration of Emergency in 1975 at anational level, resulting in the consequentimprisonment of many leaders, there aremany distinct achievements to its credit.The movement was spontaneous, open,and democratic. Itwas organizedbywom­en's organizations and women belongingto different political parties. It created asenseofsolidaritybetween women, whichwas unique. There was cohesion amongthe various groups that started the move­ment, and the motivation of the partici­pants was more emotional and focussedthan is the case with undirected move­ments.

All the accepted leaders from the differ­ent groups and political parties were com­mitted, vocal, prepared with facts andfigures, and resourceful. Also, the move­ment caused several new and young lead­ers to come forward.

The programmes adopted by the Frontwere always peaceful but colourful. Thetactics they adopted were innovative andimaginative, the slogans were catchy andoriginal, and the symbols apt and attrac­tive.

Another major achievement was that itcontributed to the shaping ofpublic opin­ion. The effortsofthe women's front weregiven good media coverage, not only bywomen's magazines, but also by otherpapers and journals in English, Marathiand Gujarati.

There were, however, certain majordrawbacks. It is an irony that one of thestrongpointsofthe movement-thebring­ing together of women from differentparties-became its major weakness.Though initially all differences were for­gotten, eventually they came to the foreand dealt a severe blow to the movement.Coupled with personal rivalries andclashes of personalities, the death-knellwas sounded. Those who were comrades­in-arms in the beginning began to accuseeach other of using the front to serve theends of their respective parties. The factthat the movement was essentially issue­based and not ideology oriented also pre­vented it from taking deeper root. Ini­tially, seeds were sown for a dynamic yetnon-violent movement, but it could not

86 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME

sustain the momentum.The successofmovements like the anti­

price rise movement cannot be measuredin statistical tenns. The fact that womenfrom differentgroups and political partieshave come together to fonn many wom­en's organizations after 1975 attests to thefact that the work done by the UnitedWomen's Front in 1972 was not com­pletely wasted. Moreover, the movementdid succeed in exploding the myth thatwomen, becauseoftheir social condition­ing, do not participate in or reflect onpolitics as men do. In fact, the womenactually widened the narrow meaning ofpolitics.

In a country like India, which is bothtraditional and modem, a movement likethe anti-price rise movement is important.In this case, the women derived strengthfrom their traditional roles in the privateworld, and used it effectively in the publicworld.

Authors' Note: The materialfor this arti­cle is drawn from newspapers-Times ofIndia, Indian Express (English),Maharashatra Times and Lok Satta(Marathi)--as well as interviews withsome leaders of the movement.

Dr. UshaMehta is the retired Head oftheDepartmentofCivicsandPoliticsatBom­bay University. She is an active memberof numerous civil liberties, educationaland literary organizations. She has writ­ten several books and articles.

Dr. Usha Thakkar is Head ofthe Depart­ment of Politics at the SNDT Women'sUniversity in Bombay. She has partici­pated in a number of educational semi­nars at national and international levelsand she has written a column for theGujurati newspaper Pravasi since 1989.

VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1

'* LI N 1\ t R SIT t

.~~\YORK·,·"."o."~ L NI\' t R SIT Y Toronto, Canada

-- --- -----

FACULTY OF ARTS

Department of Political Science

Applications are invited for one tenure-track position at the Assistant Professorlevel to be filled in either A) Japanese politics, with a preference for a specializationin domestic and international political economy; or B) the Politics of Post-SovietSuccessor States, with a preference for a specialist in Russian politics. Thesuccessful applicant will have the ability to teach general courses in ComparativePolitics.

Requirements: Ph.D or equivalent; fluency in the appropriate language; demon­strated research and teaching abilities and demonstrated publication abilities.Salary: Commensurate with qualifications.

Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, appropriate samplesoftheirscholarship,teaching evaluations, and arrange to have three letters ofreference sent to: ProfessorL. Panitch, Chair, Department of Political Science, Room S669 Ross Building,York University, 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ontario, Canada, M3J IP3. Thisappointment is subject to budgetary approval. York University is implementing apolicy of employment equity, including affinnative action for women faculty. Inaccordance with Canadian immigration requirements, this advertisement is di­rected to Canadian citizens and pennanent residents of Canada. Deadline forapplications: February 1, 1993.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The GASAT (Gender and Science and Technology) Association is seeking papersforits first Canadian conferenceJuly 31 to August 5, 1993. The conference is beingorganised by the Ontario Women's Directorate and will be held at the Universityof Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario.

GASAT provides a forum for individuals and organizations concerned about theinclusion of girls and women in the world of science and technology, from earlychildhood to work environments.

This conference will focus on recruitment and retention of girls and women inscience, engineering and technology; developing a feminist perspective on sci­ence that recognizes the diversity of experiences of women, girls and indigenouspeoples; creating a more inviting climate for work and study and developingstrategies for change; and gender-sensitive science, engineering and technologycurricula.

All attendees participate in the proceedings by making a contribution, whether itbe a formal paper, leading or contributing to a symposium, conducting a work­shop or convening a round-table discussion. Contributions resulting from inter­national networking are encouraged.

For more information on this conference or membership in the GASATAssociation, contact: Ann Holmes, Conference Chair, Ontario Women'sDirectorate,48O University Ave., 2nd floor, Toronto, Ontario M5G IV2

Tel. (416) 597-4587 Fax (416) 597-4594

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