‘When the state is against you, the street gives you power’
None of us is as strong as all of us. If I am able to stand up for what I believe in today, it is because of a collective forum standing firmly behind me. Five hundred people from across 14 states gathered in New Delhi in February for a two-day convention demanding social security and equal citizen rights, and Muslim women’s rights to constitutional law. It was truly a historic moment. The social milieu had been dominated by an insecurity among the minority communities fuelled by the state’s right-wing politics and “go to Pakistan” intimidation tactics. The mobilisation of various groups working with Muslim women in various capacities was the need of the hour. For when the state turns against you, who do you look to for support?
Parliament is the state’s decision-making body, but the space of the activist has always been the street. Our country has always been witness to protests and demonstrations, whether it is for civic issues, education, violation of human rights, the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. In my own journey, whether it has been with the organisation Awaaz-e-Niswaan (the Voice of Women) or now with the Bebaak (Fearless) Collective, I’ve worked at the grassroots level and protested on the streets in equal measure. I was born in a Muslim-dominated ghetto in Bhendi Bazaar, Mumbai, where most families are staunchly religious and conservative. For women in these poverty-stricken families, their world began and ended within that tiny community. Exposure over the past decade has helped change that in some ways, but we have a long way to go before gender equality.
The media is usually very aggressive about Muslim women’s issues, portraying them as a most vulnerable lot, making it that much harder for women like us to have reasonable discussions and achieve actual results. Breaking these stereotypes and taking our discussions and demonstrations to the streets without a media discourse was absolutely essential, especially in cases like that of Gudiya (2004) or Imrana (2005). Gudiya, who remarried after her husband was declared a deserter in the Kargil War, was forced to leave her new family after her first husband returned to their village. Imrana was raped by her father-in-law, and the clerics treated the case as adultery, insisting that she leave her husband and marry her father-in-law. We are Muslims, we are women and we are not okay with these fatwas being enforced on us. We haven’t asked for them and therefore these are not acceptable to us.
The question of Muslim Personal Law is a fundamental one. We emphasise elimination of all gender discriminatory practices across all personal laws. Gender justice must be emphasised. At the convention in February, ‘Musalman Auroton ki Awaaz: Sadak se Sansad Tak’, our discussions helped us draw up a report of the demands of Muslim women. We sent the report to various ministries and commissions. We have a long ongoing battle to fight. This is just the beginning.