People's Democracy

Muslim Women’s Convention In Kanpur

BREAKING with convention and astonishing even the organisers, more than 500 Muslim women, many of them wearing burkhas and most of them coming from the poor, crowded localities of the city – of course there was a sprinkling of college-going girls, teachers and professors – attended a ‘Muslim Women’s Convention’ organised by the district unit of AIDWA in Kanpur on August 18.

The district committee had given the responsibility of organising the convention to a small group of its members – Razia, Shamim, Ishrat, Amina and Wasim to be aided by state president Zarina and district secretary, Seema. More than 70 small and large meetings were held in preparation for the meeting in areas all over the city.  Here AIDWA’s resolution on the Model Nikahnama, its intervention in the Imrana case, the attacks on women in communal riots organised by the Sangh Parivar, especially in Gujarat, and the neglect of their problems on the part of the state and central governments were the topics of heated and animated discussion.  The anger of the women against those issuing anti-women edicts and fatwas and those responsible for introducing a strong gender-bias into their interpretations of the Koran and Islam was amazing. They also talked about lack of educational and health facilities, unemployment and social backwardness and were enthusiastic about participating in the convention. What came as a pleasant surprise was the fact that the men in the areas were also quite cooperative and there was no opposition at all.

The convention itself was very impressive. The large hall was jam-packed and many women were keen to speak.  A presidium consisting of Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, Wasim Shaukat, Shamim and Rupkumari Khaitan was elected and Zarina conducted the proceedings. Razia was the first speaker who spoke about AIDWA's approach to the problems of Muslim women; Ishrat spoke against Halala; Qamar Jahan gave a short report on laws applying to Muslim women in India.

More than a dozen women attending the convention also spoke. Many of them were divorcees or had been abandoned by their husbands because of dowry demands or a second marriage. Some did not know when or why they had been divorced. One of them wanted to know what poor people should do to get their daughters married when dowry demands were so all-pervasive. Another questioned the way in which ‘zakat’ funds were distributed without the problems of the poor being addressed. One vociferous lady thundered against politicians who only came begging for votes and then never thought of Muslims again. Some students wanted to know why there were no Post-Graduate courses in Urdu being taught in the city while others were angry that not a single one of them had benefited from the much-touted state government scheme of giving cash awards to all girls passing the Intermediate exam.

It was not only dissatisfaction and demands that were expressed. Many of the women appreciated the role that organisations like AIDWA were playing and promised to not only join AIDWA but to take its message into every alley and mohalla.

AIDWA president, Subhashini Ali, gave the concluding speech after which two resolutions were passed. One condemned the Deoband fatwa regarding Muslim women contesting elections and another contained a charter of demands which included a ban on triple talaq in one sitting, polygamy and dowry.  Provision of sanitation, water supply, educational and health facilities were also emphasised in the charter.

One fall-out of the convention, was that the Muslim League and some fundamentalist individuals attacked AIDWA in the press for being “anti-Muslim” and also demanded that fatwas should be issued forbidding Muslim women from attending such conventions. They also announced that they were requesting the Imams of all the mosques to attack such conventions, organisations and also individuals like the AIDWA president after the Friday Prayers on August 26, after which her effigy would be burnt. What was interesting was that only one Imam made a guarded speech on these lines but no one turned up for the effigy-burning so the three organisers of that particular programme also left without burning whatever they had brought along for the occasion.

The district committee of the CPI(M) in response to these attacks, brought out a pamphlet appealing to the Muslim masses to recognise these fundamentalists for what they were and to join democratic organisations in their campaigns for social reform and also for redressal of the real problems of poor men and women. This pamphlet has had a good response.  The women who attended the convention have started enrolling as AIDWA members.  Some of them said that if any one came to tell them whose meeting they should attend and whose they should not, they would reply with chappals!

Another response was that the Kazi of the Barelvi sect to which the majority of Kanpur’s Muslims belong called a large congregation and exhorted them to pay attention to the problems of women and to eschew the taking of dowry.