Taking forward the Legacy of Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule
On March 10th 1897, Savitribai Phule breathed her last
serving the plague victims in Pune. Born on 3rd January 1831,
Savitribai sowed the seeds of the struggle against the Brahminical
Patriarchy. What she left behind is a rich anti-caste and anti-oppressive
(challenging dual patriarchy) feminist legacy for generations to come.
Savitribai emerged as the only woman leader among all social
movements in the 19th C India who linked Patriarchy with Caste.
While the 19th Century is considered as the epoch of Indian
Renaissance and social reformers like Rammohan Roy, D. Saraswati, and
Vivekananda are celebrated as its stalwarts, what remains undermined is that it
was closely intertwined with the hegemonic Brahmanic Hinduism and
self-strengthening cultural nationalism. On the other hand Savitribai
countered the tendency to solely focus on higher social groups of Brahmins and
allied castes. She struggled to uplift the conditions of women of all castes,
thus bringing together the nuances of gender and caste for the first time in 19th
C in her social movement. She was a revolutionary, very radical for her own
times and therefore much ahead of her contemporaries.
Savitribai is the first female teacher of India. In 1848
Savitribai established the first school with her husband Jyotiba Phule for
downtrodden girls in Pune. Savitribai faced harassment while going to the
school from the upper castes who threw cow-dung on her, for entering a space
which was highly upper caste male dominated. By endeavouring to teach the
downtrodden and girls in a public space Savitribai was colliding head-on with
structures of Brahminical Caste and Patriarchy. However, the currents of
Brahmanic hegemony continue to influence the upper caste feminist movement,
which largely ignores the contribution of Savitribai Phule in creating a
discourse of gender equality and emancipation. In 1863 Savitribai established
a home for mothers and their children born out of wedlock who were
considered as “illegitimate” by the societal norms. She organised a Barber’s
strike against the shaving of heads of Brahmin Widows in 1860s.
Close association of Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh represents the
Unity of The Oppressed in the contemporary times
merging the struggles of SC/ST/OBC/Religious Minorities. In 1855 Savitribai
along with Jyotiba Phule, established a night school for workers
and peasants. While the so called Left and Progressive forces have often
drawn their Feminist icons from Western thinkers and upper caste elite society,
Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh remain at the margins of their
imagination of a revolutionary. However, Savitribai’s work manifests itself in
the daily lives of the downtrodden and the marginalised and their idea of
emancipation from Brahminism, Patriarchy and Feudalism. The Leftists, Gandhians
and Progressives draw their inspiration from Gandhi’s ideas for the cause of
untouchability, claiming Gandhi to be the first reformer who worked to uplift
the Dalits. These forces have seldom mentioned the pioneering work of
Savitribai and her husband Jyotiba Phule, who much before Gandhi, struggled for
emancipation of the depressed classes. In 1849 Savitribai & Jyotiba were
turned out of her in-laws’ home for teaching ‘untouchables’ and lower castes.
The couple went ahead and opened the well of their new house to the
‘untouchables’, thus continuing the struggle even in their personal lives.
We are witnessing a time in history where the deficit of consensus
on the ideas of Justice, Equality, Freedom is debated merely with the
thoughts of popular and dominant icons like Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore, while the
need of the hour is to revisit ideas of icons of the marginalised and establish
a real and inclusive discourse on Justice, Equality, Freedom from below. The idea of Nation, Nationhood,
Citizenship, Equality, Social Justice and Freedom should not be limited to
only one person, one party and one section of the society. Rather, the
discourse should be open to all sections of the society and be inclusive in
character by accommodating dissenting voices, the way in which
Savitribai marched along hand in hand with Fatima Sheikh, women of all
castes, oppressed castes, barbers, workers and peasants.
{On the eve of 119th Death Anniversary of
Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule, We organised Public Talk on “Against the Madness of Brahminical Patriarchy: Taking forward the
legacy of Savitribai Phule”
organizers; BAPSA- FLAMES OF RESISTANCE- SIO- UDSF- United OBC Forum-
YFDA.
Venue: Mahi-Mandvi Mess, Time: 9pm, Date: 10-03-16 (TONIGHT)}.
Drafted
by bapsa
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