Bharati Roy Chowdhury - A grassroots feminist activist passes away

Bharati Roy Chowdhury, founder member of NFFPFW, passes away (1949 - 2011)

With profound grief and sorrow, we at NFFPFW inform you all about the sad demise of our comrade and fellow traveller Bharati Roy Chowdhury last evening (18 January 2011) at Holy Family Hospital, New Delhi. Bharati had been in the forefront of women’s movements in the country since the 1970s, and also relentlessly fought from the front for the due rights of forest-dependent communities across the country.

Bharati had devoted herself to building peoples organizations and stood up for issues of justice and against exploitation for more than four decades, with little concern for her own needs or health. She had been tirelessly working to amplify the fragile and hapless voices in more than one way in demanding their rights whether it is women’s movement, forest rights campaigns, or dalit rights campaigns across the country, defying every challenge that came in her way. Bharati was not only a very dear friend of ours but also who inspired many minds to choose the path of justice and equity. Her health had deteriorated over the past few years, but she also fought very strongly there and never let her fragile health condition get in the way of her work.

Her passing away has created a vacuum not only in the NFFPFW but also in the social movement of the country.

We salute Bharati for her courage, determination, vision, and politics. We will keep drawing inspiration from her vision and work.

In grief,

we all at NFFPFW

— 
National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW)
 B 137 Dayanand Colony, 1st Floor
 Lajpat Nagar IV
 New Delhi 110024
 Ph: 011 26486931
 E mail: nffpfwindia@gmail.com