ahilya rangnekar

[saqib khan]

As you may have read, Ahilya Rangnekar passed away in Mumbai yesterday. Here are some life sketches of hers:


From an interview:

"Because of my family background, it was natural for me to join the students' movement in the 40's. I was at Ferguson College, Pune when Madhavbhai Desai died in jail. Some women students took out a procession and we were all thrown in jail. The college asked us to apologise, we refused. So we were rusticated and our bags were thrown out of the hostel building. In jail, we decided to hoist the national flag. We were wearing green and white saris, but there was no orange to be found for the tricolor. A lady criminal got orange for us, we drew a charkha with coal. Another girl and I climbed on top of the high wall to hoist it. For seven days, both of us were locked up in a small cell as punishment. "


From another life sketch three years back:

LOOKING at the frail, slight woman seated on the podium at a public meeting, it was hard to imagine that she was once the feisty woman who kept crowds riveted with her tirade against injustice. Until a few years ago, no public meeting, demonstration or sit-in led by the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) in Mumbai was complete without the presence of Ahilya Rangnekar.

At 86, Ahilya Rangnekar is unable to participate actively in public life but remains deeply committed to and involved with various causes, say AIDWA members. Ahilya tai (elder sister), as she is fondly called, played an active role in the freedom struggle but is known more for her dynamism in laying a firm foundation for the women’s movement. A long-standing member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), she is among the country’s first women politicians.

Ahilya Rangnekar took up the struggles of women when India’s cry for independence was at its loudest. 1n 1942-43 the freedom movement drew large numbers of women, particularly from the working class. Ahilya Rangnekar realised that women needed to participate in the freedom struggle and fight for their own rights within this context. She and her comrades started the Parel Mahila Sangh, comprising mainly wives of workers. It demanded maternity benefits and better wages and eventually became the nucleus of the left and democratic women’s movement in Maharashtra.

During this period, Rangnekar worked with other well-known women activists and freedom fighters such as Vimal Ranadive, Malti Nagarkar, Maniben Patel (Vallabhbhai Patel’s sister), Sofia Khan (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s wife) and Aruna Asaf Ali.

All these women courted arrest, were on the run, were separated from their families and faced violence as part of the freedom struggle and later as members of political parties. The most noteworthy part is that they never lost direction; they kept on with their work.

Ahilya Rangnekar’s journey in politics began soon after she finished college in 1943. She grew up in a house full of reformists and liberals and the family supported her political leanings. She was most influenced by her elder brother B.T. Ranadive, who was a leading communist organiser. In 1961, she contested her first civic election on the Communist Party of India ticket. Re-elected many times, she was a corporator for 19 years in Mumbai. Along with her fellow-corporator and friend Mrinal Gore she fought for the rights of hutment dwellers, contract labourers and women who worked for no wages, and for better water supply and other basic civic amenities.

Rangnekar and Mrinal Gore were many a time targets of vicious comments from male politicians such as Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Such moments only strengthened their resolve to continue on the path they had chosen. In fact, they formed a formidable duo as corporators.

Wherever there was a struggle, Ahilya Rangnekar was sure to be at the head of it. In 1950, she was deeply involved in the Samyukta Maharashtra agitation, which demanded the unification of the Marathi-speaking regions. In 1962, she was among the many Communist Party members to be arrested after the border conflict with China. She was in jail for three and a half years. In 1974, she was arrested for participating in the nationwide railway strike. During the Emergency she was sent to the Yerawada prison in Pune, where she continued to mobilise women and carried on fighting for their rights.

In 1977, Ahilya Rangnekar contested the parliamentary elections on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket and won from Mumbai North Central constituency. In spite of her political commitments, she never lost touch with the functioning of the Parel Mahila Sangh and its agenda. Eventually, the organisation became the Janwadi Mahila Sangh, which is the State unit of AIDWA. As a founding member of AIDWA, Ahilya Rangnekar has been the working president and vice-president of the organisation. In 2001, she became its patron.

Ahilya Rangnekar will always be one of Mumbai’s important and revered public figures. She will be remembered for her selflessness and commitment to help the poor and the oppressed. She is the kind of woman who will continue to inspire and encourage women to carry on their struggle.

For a first person account, see Breaking Barriers: Stories of Twelve Women, Parvathi Menon, LeftWord, 2004, p.150, Rs. 95.

[corporate]

comrade ,
sms service again started thanks to comrade struggle must go on we should condemn cpim workers murdered in shalboni
this is a barbarous crime
sankar

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:43:55 +0530 wrote

>As you may have read, Ahilya Rangnekar passed away in Mumbai yesterday. Here
>are some life sketches of hers:
>
>
>From an interview:
>
>"Because of my family background, it was natural for me to join the
>students' movement in the 40's. I was at Ferguson College, Pune when
>Madhavbhai Desai died in jail. Some women students took out a procession and
>we were all thrown in jail. The college asked us to apologise, we refused.
>So we were rusticated and our bags were thrown out of the hostel building.
>In jail, we decided to hoist the national flag. We were wearing green and
>white saris, but there was no orange to be found for the tricolor. A lady
>criminal got orange for us, we drew a charkha with coal. Another girl and I
>climbed on top of the high wall to hoist it. For seven days, both of us were
>locked up in a small cell as punishment. "
>
>
>From another life sketch three years back:
>
>LOOKING at the frail, slight woman seated on the podium at a public meeting,
>it was hard to imagine that she was once the feisty woman who kept crowds
>riveted with her tirade against injustice. Until a few years ago, no public

>meeting, demonstration or sit-in led by the All India Democratic Womens

>Association (AIDWA) in Mumbai was complete without the presence of Ahilya
>Rangnekar.
>
>At 86, Ahilya Rangnekar is unable to participate actively in public life but
>remains deeply committed to and involved with various causes, say AIDWA
>members. Ahilya tai (elder sister), as she is fondly called, played an
>active role in the freedom struggle but is known more for her dynamism in

>laying a firm foundation for the womens movement. A long-standing member of
>the Communist Party of India (Marxist), she is among the countrys first
>women politicians.
>
>Ahilya Rangnekar took up the struggles of women when Indias cry for

>independence was at its loudest. 1n 1942-43 the freedom movement drew large
>numbers of women, particularly from the working class. Ahilya Rangnekar
>realised that women needed to participate in the freedom struggle and fight
>for their own rights within this context. She and her comrades started the
>Parel Mahila Sangh, comprising mainly wives of workers. It demanded
>maternity benefits and better wages and eventually became the nucleus of the

>left and democratic womens movement in Maharashtra.

>
>During this period, Rangnekar worked with other well-known women activists
>and freedom fighters such as Vimal Ranadive, Malti Nagarkar, Maniben Patel

>(Vallabhbhai Patels sister), Sofia Khan (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khans wife)

>and Aruna Asaf Ali.
>
>All these women courted arrest, were on the run, were separated from their
>families and faced violence as part of the freedom struggle and later as
>members of political parties. The most noteworthy part is that they never
>lost direction; they kept on with their work.
>

>Ahilya Rangnekars journey in politics began soon after she finished college

>Ahilya Rangnekar will always be one of Mumbais important and revered public

>figures. She will be remembered for her selflessness and commitment to help
>the poor and the oppressed. She is the kind of woman who will continue to
>inspire and encourage women to carry on their struggle.
>

>For a first person account, see *Breaking Barriers: Stories of Twelve Women*,

>Parvathi Menon, LeftWord, 2004, p.150, Rs. 95.
>
>>
>

sankar pal

steel authority of india

alloy steel plant

durgapur

[soumitra ghosh]

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