The passing of legendary Elaben Bhatt is untimely. She was 89. She lived a full life and enjoyed fairly good health. She took ill only a few months back and hence her departure is sudden and sad. A person of her stature, moral standing and sincerity is acutely required in today’s turbulent times.
Elaben carried the Gandhi flame right from her childhood, the tradition coming from her family and especially her father. She was an extraordinarily sensitive child who was emotionally moved by the Freedom Movement. A pre-teen in 1942, she was deeply impressed by the Angrezo Bharat Chhodo movement. Not a conformist, Elaben was an extraordinary woman among women. Prof. Ramesh Bhatt, a thinking intellectual, nurtured and guided her after her marriage with him.
She had the rare courage to rebel against the leadership of Majoor Mahajan Sangh a powerful labour union that was born with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi. She had joined the organisation as a volunteer. She brought the case of women conducting their tiny business on the streets of Ahmedabad and home-based workers. The Majoor Mahajan Sangh refused to form a labour union of the women self-employed workers whose working conditions were worse than the labourers in the factory environment.
She broke the convention and revolutionalised the concept of the labour union. Always, very particular about boldly pointing out that the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) was a union and not a voluntary or Non-Government Organisation. SEWA was born as a membership-based union. It is a worldwide union now with more than a million women members. Such was her original and foundational creation of SEWA that it deservingly got national and international recognition.
A very modest and sober person with steely determination, she mobilised working women of the world and networked with national and international organisations working for women’s recognition as dignified economic workers contributing to the GDP in their respective countries. It was SEWA that first recognised the need for small loans required at very short notice and control of loan sharks in the cities.
SEWA under Elaben’s firm farsighted leadership fought another battle with the Reserve Bank of India for getting the SEWA Bank its due legal recognition. Not surprisingly, the Women’s World Bank was formed and she headed it. She very easily gave up her leadership positions to the next generation and encouraged sharing and taking the work forward.
In the last decade of her life, she was deservingly invited to become the Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi. She felt very responsible holding the title that was once held by Gandhiji, Sardar Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Morarji Desai. She brought an original vision for Vidyapith relevant to current times. She said that Vidyapith should strive to become Roti Pith, Kapda Pith and Urjapith – the indigenous and Gandhian Mantra for the sustainable development of humanity.
Through her vision for the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram, she wanted to bring alive the core constructive programs that were once the mainstay of the Gandhi Ashram. Until last, she remained apprehensive about the Government’s proposal to redevelop the Gandhi Ashram Precinct. She was for change but to her, it meant bringing back the message of simplicity, frugality and dignity in all the structures and ambience that would serve as a memorial and living demonstration of the work and values for which Gandhiji and his associates stood.
Elaben was a motherly figure soothing to all who approached her with all kinds of problems. She cared for people, she respected work and working people and she promoted sustainability in economics, society and in nature. Fear not, and hate not is the core message she carried. We need to do the same. Working for the last person would be to carry her legacy and that of the Gandhian legacy of which she was one of the most prominent torchbearers.
Sudarshan Iyaengar
Former vice chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith