I witnessed the power of Sita's story to move men's hearts in large areas of Maharashtra when I was working with a massive farmer's organisation, Shetkari Sangathana, on the Lakshmi Mukti programme as part of a campaign to empower women with land rights. The Lakshmi Mukti campaign tried to communicate the idea that the peasantry could not get a fair deal or be able to prosper, as long as the curse of Sita mata stayed on them, as long as they kept their griha Lakshmis enslaved by keeping them economically dependent and powerless in the family. In this campaign we emphasised that the followers of the Sangathana should not wait for government laws to be framed to enforce the economic rights of women, that the farmers should do it voluntarily as a long overdue gesture of gratitude towards their own Lakshmis.
The Sangathana announced in 1989 that any village in which a hundred or more families each voluntarily transferred a piece of land to the wife's name would be honoured as a Lakshmi Mukti Gaon (a village which had liberated its hitherto enslaved Lakshmis) through a public function in which Sharad Joshi would distribute certificates of honour to each such family. (Sita is believed to be an incarnation of Lakshmi). During the campaign tours to persuade the peasant followers of Shetkari Sangathana to voluntarily transfer a portion of the family land to the wife's name, Sangathana leader Sharad Joshi's speeches revolved around the Sita story, which seems to have played a big role in evoking a positive response from the men. Joshi would explain the Lakshmi Mukti campaign by first pointing out how a farmer's wife toils for her family selflessly and how crucial her labour and care is for the well-being of the family. Then he would go on to ask his audience:
"But then, how do we men treat our Lakshmis? Often no better than Ram treated Sita, one of the best wives anyone could have."
He would then go on to recount the kind of sacrifices Sita made for Ram.
"When Ram was banished to 14 years' banvaas, (life in the forest) Kaikeyi had not demanded that Sita go with him. She could well have stayed back in the palace, but Sita insisted that wherever Ram goes, there goes Sita. She said, my place is by your side. She suffered numerous privations for him joyfully. Finally Ravan abducts Sita for no fault of hers but to teach Ram a lesson for his misbehaviour with his sister. Though Ravan respected her chastity and did not violate Sita, her own husband subjected her to the cruel humiliation of agnipariksha to prove her chastity. Even fire could not touch her but on their return to his kingdom, at the mere hint of a slanderous remark by a dhobi, Ram asks Lakshman to take away Sita and leave her in a forest. He does not ever personally explain anything to her."
And then step by step Joshi would build on the cruelty of Ram, how even if his dharma as a king demanded the sacrifice of his marriage, he could have behaved more humanely towards her.
"In that entire capital of Ayodhya, this queen could not call any place her own for mere shelter. Could Ram not have told his queen that though they could not continue living together as husband and wife because of praja's opinion, she could live apart in another palace? Or offered her a small house? Or at least a small kothri (room/dungeon) where she could live quietly with her children? But no, Maharani Sita became a bhikarin (beggar) overnight simply because her husband turned against her and pushed her out. It did not occur to him that if his subjects were not willing to accept her, that he too could have followed her example. He could go along with her after saying to his subjects 'If Sita is not good enough to be your queen, then my place is by her side. I cannot stay here either.' Instead he left her to live the life of a destitute beggar even while she was carrying his children."
Joshi would then go on to narrate the legend associated with the Sita mandir at Raveri and the power of Sita mata's curse to those who treated her unfairly, and go on to warn his audience that by maltreating their wives, by keeping them economically dependent, the peasantry had collectively invoked the curse of their Sitas. Hence their poverty, their inability to obtain their due and their enslaved condition. He presented the redressal of the wrongs of today's Sitas as a precondition for the peasantry being successful in their fight for justice, and effectively resisting their own exploitation.
He would conclude by saying that the purpose of the Lakshmi Mukti programme was to see that no modern day Sita would ever have to suffer the fate of Ram's Sita because she had nothing to call her own. By transferring land to their wives, they were paying off "a long overdue debt" to Sita mata. In village after village I would see men reduced to tears listening to the story of Sita. Hundreds of villages have already carried out the Lakshmi Mukti programme of land transfer to wives, celebrating the occasion as though it were a festival. Many more hundreds of villages pledged to do so. However the leadership could not sustain the campaign's momentum because it left them little time for their other work and agitations.
Apart from the charisma and credibility of Sharad Joshi, I also attribute the appeal of the movement to the power of the Sita story. Men were told they were atoning for the wrongdoing of Ram and they felt good about being called upon to do so. Sharad Joshi himself admits that the Sita story moves him so profoundly that he himself is reduced to tears whenever he reads those sections of the Ramayan which describe Ram's banishment of Sita. In his view, Balmiki introduces the injustice to Sita not so much with a view to hold up Sita's dignified suffering as an example for women but to turn people against Ram-like behaviour:
"Why otherwise would he show him behave so crudely in those episodes, even though Ram never loses his dignity elsewhere, no matter how difficult the circumstances? He could have easily made Ram into as perfect a husband as he was a son. Instead, by saddling him with such a flaw, such crudity of behaviour in contrast to Sita's dignity, Balmiki wants to show how difficult it is for even supposedly perfect men to behave justly towards their wives."
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