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PRAISE FOR "HELLO, BASTAR":
"Rahul Pandita had done something unusual - He had studied the Maoist movement at ground level for more than a decade, growing ever more interested in the way it functioned, travelling through the remoter jungles of Central India for weeks on end and spending time with the tribal people." -- PATRICK FRENCH, British writer and historian.
"This book could be useful for any future dialogue between the government and the Maoists which is an urgent necessity": Jailed Maoist ideologue KOBAD GHANDY
"Angry, restrained, detailed, circumspect...a strongly felt portrait of the Maoists of Bastar": BUSINESS STANDARD
"Pandita achieves a sensitive and humane account of the real lives of the people in the Maoist movement by cutting through not just State and media propaganda but also through Maoist ideology": TEHELKA
With direct access to the top Maoist leadership, Rahul Pandita provides an authoritative account of how a handful of men and women, who believed in the idea of revolution, entered Bastar in Central India in 1980 and created a powerful movement that New Delhi now terms as India’s biggest internal security threat. It traces the circumstances due to which the Maoist movement entrenched itself in about 10 states of India, carrying out deadly attacks against the Indian establishment in the name of the poor and the marginalised. It offers rare insight into the lives of Maoist guerillas and also of the Adivasi tribals living in the Red zone.
Based on extensive on-ground reportage and exhaustive interviews with Maoist leaders including their supreme commander Ganapathi, Kobad Ghandy and others who are jailed or have been killed in police encounters, this book is a combination of firsthand storytelling and intrepid analysis.
Hello, Bastar is the story of:
•How the idea of creating a guerilla base in Bastar came up
•What the rebels who entered Dandakaranya had to deal with
•The Jagtial movement that created the ground for the Maoist movement
•The first squad member who died for revolution
•How Maoists and their guerilla squads function
•Their goals, recruitment, party structure and funding Their ‘urban agenda’
for cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai
•Their relationship with people and peoples’ move- ments
•Maoist supremo Ganapathi and other top leaders
•Anuradha Ghandy’s journey from Bombay to Bastar
Available in book stores across India from June end onwards.
Tranquebar Press/Paperback Price Rs. 250
Currently, "Hello, Bastar" can be ordered at heavy discount on the phone from
Dial-a-Book (09650-457-457). Cash on delivery facility in 27 cities. Delivery in Delhi NCR within 24 hours and other places in 2-3 days.
Or online at www.flipkart.com.
Cash on delivery facility plus heavy discount.
