State borders of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh and Maharshtra slice through the forest of Dandakarnya, homeland to
Maoists. But in the same place lies the opportunity for corporate to mine the
minerals, build factories, power plants, refineries and dams. For these projects
to come to life, tribal living in those places must be displaced. Those tribal
become refugees of India’s progress. With their right to livelihoods gone, and unable
to find a place in the ‘civilized’ world, they turn against the system. They
create their own governing mechanism, set their own rules and even form their own
military to defend and fight.
For those of us living in a comfortable world with
materialistic ambitions, the life of the comrades of Naxalite movement seem a
distant world but scratching below the surface opens up plethora of reasons
why thousands of those volunteers come together, fight for a common reason, and
create hope in many others to join the movement before they get killed.
Arundhati Roy makes a journey into Dandakaranya, walks miles
with those comrades, listens to numerous stories and documents the journey in
this pocket sized book. While the arguments are pro-naxalite throughout, she
has made a sincere attempt in putting forward their points of view.
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