Hillary Clinton to pay tribute to SEWA founder Ela Bhatt on 2-day Guj visit

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be on a two-day visit of Gujarat from Sunday and will participate in programmes of the Self-Empowered Women's Association (SEWA) founded by social worker and Gandhian Ela Bhatt who passed away in November last year.

She will pay tribute to Bhatt in Ahmedabad and interact with SEWA members at its office in the city on Sunday, while on Monday Clinton will visit Dhrangadhra in Surendranagar district to interact with salt pan workers as part of SEWA's rural initiative, its programme coordinator Rashmi Bedi said.

"Hillary Clinton will visit the SEWA reception centre in Ahmedabad between 2:45-4:00 pm and interact with its members. She will also deliver a speech at the reception centre. Before that, she will unveil a plaque near a banyan tree planted by Ela Bhatt at Victoria Garden on the 50th year celebration of SEWA foundation in 2022," Bedi said on Saturday.

Clinton and Bhatt, who died on November 2 last year due to age-related ailments, knew each other since 1995 and the former, in a 2018 social media post, had described the work of the renowned women's rights activist as a "revolutionary experiment."

"In 1972, she started an organization to give women small loans that could help them find fulfilment in their work and contribute to their family's well-being. It was called the Self-Employed Women's Association, or SEWA," Clinton had said in her post.