Women Denied Their Due in NE Autonomous Councils

The representation of women in various district councils in Northeastern States is very less, Manorama Sharma, history professor at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, has said. Delivering revolutionary leader Pyla Vasudeva Rao the fourth memorial lecture here on Sunday, Manorama Sharma said councils like Mishing Autonomous District Council, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, Lai and Mara Autonomous District Councils of Mizoram, Lalung Tiwa Council and Rabhas Hasong District Council, to name a few, have very poor representation of women.

She was speaking on “Popular movements and gender relations in Northeast India”.  “In most cases, women are totally absent. Yet, the recorded history of the struggles of these communities for their autonomy shows that women were involved very actively,” Manorama Sharma said. Professor Sharma further added: “When it comes to forming decision-making bodies, women were pushed back to kitchens because the public space belongs to men. Then, will justice be achieved through these ‘autonomy’ movements?” he asked.

“In Meghalaya, in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), the entire list of  members from 1952 to 2007 has only four women members. Of these, one was nominated and the other elected for one term each,” she explained.

Sharma said during the autonomous movements, many women suffered torture at the hands of the state forces. Yet, when the final decision making time came and the famous Assam Accord was signed between the representatives of the movement and the Centre, women were forgotten in Assam, Sharma said.

Professor Sharma said Pyla Vasudeva Rao, a leader of the Srikakulam Armed Struggle and a member of the CPI and later CPI-ML, never failed to follow party instructions, and yet maintained his independent thinking. He did not hesitate to point out when he thought the party was not following the correct line.

“Pyla was a leader of the revolutionary struggle in this part of the country, but the story of his spirit of struggle, dedication and courage should also be made known to other areas, where peoples’ democratic movements of various kinds have taken place or are going on. All such movements finally help in creating areas of sustained struggles of the people and resistance to the oppressive and exploitative structure of the state,” Sharma said.

CPI-ML New Democracy leader Chittipati Venkateswarlu, writer Vimala and Mallepalli Lakshmaiah and others paid rich tributes to Pyla Vasudeva Rao.