Respectful Sonia Gandhi with the galaxy of women leaders of various political parties and Respectful M.K.Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu attending as the Chief Guest, the Conference. (Chennai – 14th October 2023).
The Women’s Rights Conference organised by the DMK with Ms.Kanimozhi Karunanidhi M.P., as event chair was held in Chennai on Saturday, 14th October, 2023. The Chief Guest of the Conference was Thiru M.K.Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Ms.Priyanka Gandhi, the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress attended the conference. Ms. Sonia Gandhi MP, Ms Leshi Singh, Hon’ble Minister, Government of Bihar, Ms Supriya Sule M.P. (National Congress Party), Ms Sushmitha Dev (All India Trinamool Congress), Ms Dimple Yadav M.P. (Samajwadi Party), Ms Subashini Ali (Communist Party (Marxist) of India), Ms Mehbooba Mufti (Peoples’ Democratic Party) and many other women leaders of all opposition political parties to BJP rule of Union government, from various parts of the country. Ms.Priyanka Gandhi delivered a speech as follows:
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It is an honour for me to be here today with all of you at this special meeting. 32 years ago on the darkest night of my life, I set foot on this land of Tamil Nadu. I was here to collect my father’s shattered body. I was 19 year old and my mother was just a few years younger than I am today. As the door of the plane opened, I was not afraid because the worst thing I could have imagined had already happened. A few hours earlier my father had been killed. I silently walked towards my mother that night knowing that if I spoke, that would break her heart. I watched the light of happiness was extinguished from her eyes for ever. We walked down the stairs of the plane at Meenambakkam Airport terminal, shocked and alone. Then suddenly a crowd of women dressed in blue Saris surrounded us. They held my mother in their arms and cried inconsolably with her as if they were all my mothers; as if they too had lost their beloved. In those shed tears, a bond formed between my heart and the women of Tamil Nadu. I can neither explain nor even recall what an agony it was.
My dear friends, you are all my mother and sisters. I deem it a great pride being today among you. I shall talk to you now about all of us; about the women of India – I am here to remind you that we are the strength of this proud and beautiful nation, which is our motherland. My sisters, no matter how rich or poor we are; no matter whether we live in big cities, small towns or villages; or how much lack of opportunities we have faced — we are the bedrock upon which our families and our societies are built, brick by brick. We are the ones carrying the weight of our society on our shoulders. We do this with grace and solace. We do it with tenacity and strength of will and our capacity to absorb pain and suffering is immense. We are proud of these qualities which have been passed on into our bones, through generations after generations of oppression.
But my dear sisters, I remind you that we are more than this. We are greater than our ability to endure sufferings. We are the ones who gift our children and to all those around us, unfailingly, our endurance. We are the ones who teach them courage; we are the ones who teach them love. It is us, who understand forgiveness and who know how to fight fearlessly in the face of adversities. We are the work force, powering our nation forward and we are the millions of young women aspiring for a better future. We know how to rise from the darkest nights to claim a new dawn. We have a light within each one of us, that is capable of shining brighter than the sun, but that light has never allowed us freedom and joy to shine in its fulness.
It was almost hundred years ago that Thanthai Periyar wrote – பெண் ஏன் அடிமையானாள்?” – ‘Why women were enslaved?’ He also asked this question in a series of revolutionary essays, in which he wrote about the economic and social enslavement of women. It was he who laid the foundation for the empowerment of Women in Tamil Nadu, which Thiru. Anna and Thiru. Kalaignar carried forward.
My dear sisters, this empowered you, the women of Tamil Nadu, to show the way of emancipation and progress to the rest of India. Periyar salvaged this state which was beneath the surface of progress. We are still struggling with the harsh reality of patriarchy that ensures the systemic oppression of women. In fact, almost a century after Thanthai Periyar’s book was published, the same question looms large before us – பெண் ஏன் இன்னும் அடிமையாக இருக்கிறாள்? Why is a woman still enslaved? Although I do not have the stature, wisdom and experience of Thanthai Periyar, my answer to that question is this –I am a woman. We have been taught generation after generation to cede our power to others; we have been taught to step aside; to be ashamed of honouring our essence; to take care of every one else before we show compassion to ourselves.
Unfortunately, my dear sisters, we have learned these lessons only too well. So well that we have continued to pass them down to others. We have learned to define ourselves in the eyes of the hierarchy that was instilled in us, and by doing so, we have allowed and enabled our own oppression. We ourselves have forgotten that the roots of discrimination of any kind, whether it is based on colour, creed, caste or gender, it is an inability to honour the truth that the quality and personal dignity are neither a privilege nor a gift, but a natural endowment of life. Today there is much talk about empowerment, as every political party begins to realise that women can become formidable collective force that shapes our nation’s future; but it still looks towards us with greed; greed for votes and the greed to capture our power and use it to keep us down.
On your behalf today my dear sisters, I demand more, I demand that we own our power. On your behalf I demand the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill. We, the Women of India, have no more time to wait. It is our right to be counted in the political process. I demand that our worth is valued and respected.
As a political instrument for our own empowerment, I demand that vested interests put an end to the glorification of our tolerance of injustices which are committed against us day after, day after day. I demand the rejection of any system – societal, religious or political – which thrives on our oppression and forces us to collude with it. Every woman holds the right to express and embody her own power and she should be free to exercise it.
My dear sisters, you are the essence of humanity. Each one of you standing exactly where you are today, has the power to change your life but only if you deeply understand the unbridled power of your sisterhood; only if you see in each other, the great value of coming together; of helping and holding each other and rising in solidarity with one another.
My dear sisters, nothing can hold back the power of women when we stand as one. We are half of the population of this country – no less. It is for us to set the barriers of caste, religion, states, language and society. It is for us to recognize ourselves first and foremost as sisters who can unify as an unstoppable momentum for change. Today, as we stand here to commemorate Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi, a leader who understood the power of women, let us awaken to a new dawn. Let us create our own destiny.
Thank you.
