Land Guns Caste Women by Gita Ramaswamy

Land, Guns, Caste, Woman: The Memoir of a Lapsed Revolutionary by Gita Ramaswamy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An engaging book – a peep into the world of Indian communists and their indigenous avataars – Naxalites (and their urban versions) and the militant PWG, from a woman’s perspective – a ‘high caste’ one at that.

When I was in the party, communism seemed to have the answer to society’s political problems and feminism had the answers to social and personal issues.

I laud her efforts at Dalit and rural upliftment, at the cost of her health and safety. However, I do not support her methods. Her communist credentials and hypocrisy stand exposed. She claims to work within the framework of the democratic setup of India, yet

For those with other entitlements, especially the urban rich, casting their vote may mean nothing. (I for one have never voted despite trying to do all my work within the frame of law and democracy.) But to the village poor, it is a sign of one’s worth. ‘Am I a corpse that I cannot vote,’ was the unfailingly constant answer when I asked people why they voted when all it brought them was a few rupees and a bottle of liquor.

How does she expect to be “within the frame of law and democracy” without exercising her franchise? This is her approach to achieve her ends

Coming as I did from the ML movement, I saw agitational and ‘developmental’ (or constructive) activities as two separate entities. The terminology is certainly disturbing – as if there is a dichotomy between agitational and constructive work, as if agitation is destructive. As I perceived it, agitational activity was taken up by those who wanted to bring about a total change, and constructive activities by those who wished to reform and tinker with bits and pieces of the system, but did not see the immediate and vital need for a systemic overhaul.

Destruction of public property going on strikes, blocking roads, ‘gheraoing’ public servants and disturbing peace and other forms of agitation, etc is not destructive? It certainly is not constructive, in my opinion! All this despite communism being discredited all around the world.
She calls the reformist Arya Samaj “known to be a Hindu communal organization.” How much Hindu bashing goes on in India in the name of freedom of expression! That she renounced the communist and Naxalite philosophy and adopted her own brand of “agitational development,” thus winning her plaudits, redeems her.

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