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 11.

Woman Power - New Expression If building of the Shetkari Sanghatana was a miracle, then the building of the Shetkari Mahila Aghadi (Farmer Women Front) was an even bigger miracle. Though the Mahila Aghadi was formally launched in November 1986, the participation of women in farmers’ struggle was more or less since inception. At the very outset in January 1980, when Joshi had organized a march to demand the repairs of 64 Kilometre Vandre to Chakan road, out of 8,000 farmers who marched, 2,000 were women. Women were involved in the struggles of onion and sugarcane farmers. In Nipani’s tobacco agitation they were at the heart of it. Even after their grueling daylong work, those women used to come every day at the site of rasta roko during all the 23 days of the struggle. Some of them even gave speeches. It was the women from nearby villages who provided daily supply of milk-besan-bhakaris to 40,000 farmers who had occupied the Pune-Bangalore highway. Even those women who personally could not step out supported agitation in every possible way. Once Joshi had been to the home of a woman farmer in Nipani whose two sons were killed in the police firing. She told Joshi quite resolutely, ‘If I had a third son, I would have given him as well for this agitation.’ Once Joshi had been to the home of Ramchandrabapu Patil in Baglan who had been the President of SS during the previous year. When Joshi thanked his wife for releasing her husband 218

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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage