A revolutionary who transformed lives

Who is a worker? Is he only the one who toils on the roads, in construction sites and factories? Or is it also she who makes at home, tends after crops and animals, sells wares on pavements or cleans sewers? How do you fight for someone’s rights when they’re invisible, not only to the State, but even to labour leaders? How do you make them seen? These questions animated Ela Bhatt’s remarkable life spanning almost nine decades that ended on Wednesday in Ahmedabad. It’s a bit of a cliché to say in someone’s eulogy that they changed lives. Yet, the extraordinary Gandhian – known as their beloved (sister) to thousands of women across the country – did just that. She poured her energies into the betterment of women who worked hard, yet were unrecognised and earned either a pittance or nothing at all. She found them, organised them, gave them a voice and True to her Gandhian roots, she had a vision to change the world from the bottom up, to focus on those who have the least and help them live fuller lives, and to do so while remaining in the background, forever working, forever simple.

In every sense of the word, she was a revolutionary, because, before her, no one could imagine that groups of women could come together to form a potent financial force, be counted as a pillar of the economy while leading lives of dignity and self-respect. In her life and work, she showed that change is incremental, barriers of prejudices are only brought down one brick at a time, and social transformation often happens in places no one is looking, away from the bustle of the internet and metropolis life. In creating this playbook for empowerment, not only of women but of oppressed communities everywhere, lies her legacy.