Changing their method of agitation, leaders of Ponpilai Orumai (Women’s Unity), a forum of thousands of woman tea estate workers in Kerala’s Munnar hill resort, on Saturday night called off their five-day-long protest fast demanding the resignation of and an apology from Marxist Power Minister MM Mani who had insulted the woman workers with dirty remarks and decided to stage relay Satyagraha till their goal was achieved.

In a show of women’s determination, Orumai leaders said Gomathy Augustine, Kausalya Thankamani and Rajeswari had returned from the hospital to the venue of their struggle in Munnar on Saturday night to resume their stir within hours of their forcible arrest and compulsory removal to the hospital after their health deteriorated due to the fast.

Authorities at the Taluk Hospital in Adimali, 30 kilometers away from Munnar where they were admitted after their arrest in the afternoon, said Gomathy, Kausalya and Rajeswari had left the hospital on their own. After reaching the protest venue, they decided to end the hunger strike but to continue Satyagraha till Mani resigned and apologized.

The Orumai leaders had started their protest fast on Tuesday against Mani for insulting the thousands of woman tea workers in Munnar with some extremely obscene remarks about the legendary struggle they had held in September 2015 demanding higher minimum wages and bonus.

On Saturday afternoon, the venue of the fast witnessed dramatic scenes amidst the police’s bid to arrest Gomathy and Kausalya for removing them to the hospital after doctors reported that their health had deteriorated. Gomathy and Kausalya fiercely resisted the efforts to take them away but the police managed to get them aboard an ambulance forcibly.

As she was being taken away, Gomathy said from the ambulance, “This is not a question of my life. This is a question of the pride and prestige of thousands of poor women. Mani should resign and apologize. We will continue our fast in the hospital.” The police had on Saturday morning shifted Rajeswari to the hospital after her health deteriorated.

On Saturday night, Gomathy, Kausalya and Rajeswari got discharged from the hospital as per their own wish and left Adimali hospital for the protest venue in Munnar town. Tension had prevailed in Munnar in the afternoon after Orumai’s supporters and leaders of other political parties supporting the protest tried to foil the police bid to arrest them.

When the doctors said that Gomathy and Kausalya needed immediate medical help, they had agreed to take it at the fast venue and the medical team had made arrangements for this. Then the police insisted that they had to be shifted to the hospital generating a feeling that their actual intention was not to provide medical assistance but to defeat the women’s struggle.

“The police of the CPI(M) Government had behaved like its leader MM Mani. As an elected block panchayat member, Gomathy’s position is equivalent to that of an MlA. But the police did not treat her in that way. They forcibly dragged her out of the fast venue despite their protests,” said AAP leader CR Neelakandan who was at the venue during the arrest drama.

“This day is a black day in Kerala history,” said senior Congress leader Shanimol Usman who was present at the venue. “Those who had used force on the woman tea workers were not woman police officers but men. This shows the fascist attitude of the CPI(M)-led Government of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,” she said.

Mani had a few days ago made some disgustingly obscene remarks against the Ponpilai Orumai which had held a legendary struggle in 2015 demanding higher wages and bonus. “Boozing and other dirty things had taken place (during the stir). The ‘work’ was in the nearby forest,” Mani said triggering instant protests across the State.