Mrinaltai IAWS Newsletter July 2012_Page_10

It was Mrinaltai i.e. “an elder sister” (as she was popularly addressed), who as an MLA in 1972, moved a resolution for the Slum Improvement Act (till then there was only the Slum Eradication Act). That landmark resolution was debated from 11.00 a.m. to 6 a.m. the next day before being passed. Mrinaltai used to tell us, "For the first time the assembly worked night and day,''
Mrinaltai and her husband Keshav Gore had impeccable socialist credentials. Jayaprakash Narayan was a witness at their wedding. After passing away of Keshaji at a young age in 1958, Mrinaltai immortalized him by not only founding Keshav Gore Trust but also making it an epicenter of all progressive, socialist and social movement activities, programmes and gatherings. Local, state level and national level progressive thinking stalwarts and change makers from different spheres-politics, tribal arts, writers, literatures, feminists, environmentalists thronged the Trust. She was a woman of vision, ideas and praxis and was a gifted and electrifying orator. At the same time she was a warm and hospitable. She followed an open door policy, listened to everyone patiently and adopted best practices wherever she noticed. She is one public figure whom I never saw basing in the past glory. Instead she was eager to learn from the youngsters. Her speeches served as tonic to young activists like us in the 1970s and 1980s. My association with her began in 1972 when she visited Vadodara, when Mrinaltai started her homework to launch a campaign against price rise, black marketing and hoarding of essential goods by traders and ration shop owners.