One would be surprised that the first woman trade union leader in India was from a Mill-owner family who’s younger brother was the President of the Ahmedabad Textile Mill-owners’ Association(ATMA). Inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi only can create such miracles. The Textile Labour Association (TLA) popularly known as Majoor Mahajan Sangh (MMS) was established by the trio - Gandhiji, Anasuya Sarabhai and Shankarlal Banker. MMS was one of the four organisations in the city that have the distinction of having been founded by the Father of the Nation between 1917 and 1920, the other three being Gujarat Vidyapith, Gandhi Ashram and Navjeevan Trust. Needless to say that at one time Ahmedabad was considered the Manchester of the East having so many textile mills.
Under the mentorship of Gandhiji, Anasuya Sarabhai (1885-1972), the pioneer of women’s labour movement in India took lead to establish the Majoor Mahajan Sangh in 1920 after a month-long strike three years prior to help weavers get a 50 per cent wage hike while the mill owners, including her younger brother Ambalal Sarabhai, were ready to concede only 20%. The Mahatma went on a hunger strike and thus obtained for the workers, a 35% increase in wages. Sarabhai was called ‘Mota Ben’ (elder sister) by the workers. The Majoor Mahajan has celebrated 100 years of its foundation in the presence of Dr. Ela Bhatt, the founder of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and a major contributor to the labour movement. She has worked with Anasuyaben as a Legal Officer with MMS. At present, she is the Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith.
Ilaben puts the record straight: “Anasuyaben is best known as the woman who joined hands with Mahatma Gandhi and led one of the earliest strikes in Ahmedabad (1917), and founded one of the largest trade unions in India, the Majoor Mahajan Sangh (TLA 1920). While that is true, what is more important to remember is that Anasuyaben had already led a successful strike on her own, before Mahatma Gandhi came onto the scene, and one can be so bold as to say that it was Mahatma Gandhi who benefited in shaping the idea of Satyagraha from her groundwork and the trust she enjoyed among the mill workers of Ahmedabad.”
Anasuyaben was born in 1885 in one of the most prominent Jain families of Ahmedabad. Maganbhai Karamchand’s ancestors were enterprising merchants with a thriving textile and opium trade with China. His son Sarabhai and grandson Ambalal were among the pioneers of the mechanized textile industry in Ahmedabad. They were progressive in their outlook - women in the family were literate, and according to Anasuyaben, her mother enjoyed reading Shakespeare. Her father Sarabhai was a gentleman. In 1918, during a trip to Kashmir he caught dysentery and within a few short weeks died of dysentery. He was 31. His grief stricken wife, who had been fasting fervently for his recovery was physically so weak, that she too fell ill. She died just three months later. Her three children, Anasuya aged nine, Ambalal aged five and Kanta a one year old infant, were left in the care of their father’s brother and their mother’s 15-year-old sister, who was herself the mother of a newborn.
Unfortunately the uncle did not believe in educating girls. When Anasuyaben turned 13, she was married to a boy from the Jain community. She was miserable. Separated from her brother and her little sister, unable to adjust to the ways of her new family, and having no interest in her husband who was dull at his studies, Anasuyaben found excuses to keep returning home. A friend had suggested that she become a doctor. The idea of further studies appealed to her immensely. It was necessary to quietly escape from India to go to England. For someone who had never walked down a street on her own, this was a big leap.
For six months she studied at a tutorial college, finished her basic education, and passed the College of Preceptors examination.
London was an exciting place in 1912. The suffragettes were on the streets, doing unwomanly things like defying the government, getting arrested and fighting heroic battles. The Fabians were talking about social justice and trade unions and minimum wage. Under the influence of this charged atmosphere, Anasuyaben decided to enroll in the London School of Economics to study labour and social welfare instead of pursuing medical studies. In 1913, she received the news that her sister Kanta had died of meningitis. She rushed home to India, to be by her brother’s side, never to return and resume her studies.
She started a school for the children of mill workers. Anasuyaben says: “I rented two rooms for two rupees each at the end of an alley so I could have a small garden. I thought I would help young girls. At that time, I assumed everybody who was poor was unhappy. In this way, I started working. The cost each month was around forty or fifty rupees, which my brother paid. One morning, I was sitting outside in the school compound combing the children’s hair when I saw a group of some fifteen workers walking by, as if in a trance. I got to know some of them so I was no longer afraid of their wild looks. I waved them over, and asked, ‘What is the matter? Why do you look so listless?’ They said, ‘Bahen, we have just finished thirty-six hours of work.’ ‘But doesn’t anyone stop you from working so many shifts?’ I asked. ‘Who would stop us? The factory inspector eats dinner with the manager; he isn’t likely to interfere. We have worked for two nights and a day without a break, and now we’re on our way home.’
“These words filled me with horror. This was the kind of slavery mill workers faced! What could I do to change this situation? Then I found out that even children worked double shifts. That troubled me to no end. I decided to do something to stop this. I had seen such situations in England working with the suffragettes; I had heard those lectures on labor at the London School of Economics, so I understood the issues. But I didn’t know what to do.” This was a turning point in her life leading to establishing the MMS. Once Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited her to lead the first Indian delegation to the ILO in Geneva, she declined. She was never seeking official roles or publicity. Anasuyaben lived a long life of 82 years. During which, she broke many moulds and built many institutions. She had deep respect for Gandhiji but she was not a Gandhian. She did not have interest in courting jail, and wore khadi reluctantly. More often than not, she was surrounded by men, not women. Her close colleagues were Shankerla Banker, Gulzarilal Nanda and Khandubhai Desai.
SEWA’s Ilaben concludes: “In her personal life she stayed close to her brother and his family. Her own household consisted of people who were not related to her in anyway - Shankerlal Banker was her lifelong companion, the second most important man in her life other than her brother. They had been comrade-in-arms since the strike in Ahmedabad, and worked all their lives in establishing and building the Majoor Mahajan Sangh. Their bond was strong, but their relationship defies categories, Narsimhan, came to her as a young servant boy, was adopted by Shakerlalbhai. Narsimhan’s little daughter Premvalli became Anasuyaben’s adopted daughter. She left his family a significant part of her estate.”
Next Column: Jinnah opposed the Muslim League in 1906
Photo Line: Anasuya Sarabhai
