POLITICAL Organisations: The women’s wings of the communal fascist RSS seeks to mobilise women on a virulently communal and reactionary plank; in fact this reactionary outlook on women is a centrepiece of RSS ideology. The women’s groups of Congress and other bourgeois parties also have an (mostly unspoken) conservative social agenda vis a vis women, and are not willing to challenge anti-woman social ‘traditions’, even if they do not defend such traditions as openly as RSS does. These groups often have control over women’s institutions run by the Government, and their conservative approach is reflected in their handling of women’s issues.

Conservative women’s groups: Among the women’s groups, some have a very conservative agenda taking positions against the sati prohibition laws; defending the practice of dowry; arguing for ‘chastity’ in women, etc.... Except under very special circumstances, it is with these conservative and reactionary women’s groups that AIPWA cannot find any common ground.

NGOs: There are also various NGOs which largely speak a liberal, progressive language, which are funded by various agencies and even by governments. While there may be occasions for unity with some such groups on some issues, our ranks must be educated to recognise that the agenda of such NGOs actually opposes mobilising women as a political force against the state. While they speak out against the BJP and RSS, they largely work to provide legitimacy to other sections of the ruling class – like the Congress. And most such NGOs act as a wing of the state – implementing various welfare or development projects – and thus blocking the political development of the women.

With a range of feminist groups and individuals, AIPWA may disagree on many counts, but our basic orientation is to seek grounds of unity.