Arundhati Roy irritates me—her tone, her smugness, her careless use of history; specifically, her stringing of disparate events and phenomena as if they all amounted to the same old same old (eg, the lumping together of the Indian annexation of Hyderabad as part of the country’s “colonialis[t]” course, bizarre given the old order displaced was an absolute monarchy hijacked by religious revivalists in its twilight, an old order diametrically opposed to the sort of peasant insurgency one would expect Roy to be sympathetic to were the Indian state not on the “other” side), her sloppy view that the Indian polity is no more than an “upper caste Hindu state”—are annoying not only in themselves, but because they mar the force of her arguments, on issues so crucial one can ill afford to slip up (Walking with the Comrades, Mar 25). But. But. But. For the courage to talk about what other writers in English barely touch upon, and rarely without resort to the empty platitudes of those who use language not to think about problems but to avoid them, everything she writes on the plight of the Indian polity’s ultimate expendables—the tribals—can’t be missed.
Umair Muhajir, New York
This is the only article of Arundhati’s that I’ve read and some of the facts she mentions ring true to me. For example, I have seen strategic hamleting in Mizoram around 1977 when I was working in the nehu. A highway was built from one end of the state to the other, villages were shifted near the highway, (and I was told) fenced off, and the villagers needed identity cards to leave the fenced area to their farms. Rahul Banerjee, who worked for about 25 years with tribals in Central India, has similar things to say in his work, Recovering the Lost Tongue: The Saga of Environmental Struggles in Central India.
Anandaswarup Gadde, Melbourne
Speechless. That’s how Arundhati’s essay has left me.
Dearton Thomas Hector, Kollam
Meaningless! It’s what came to my mind about my own work (I do what’s called ‘peace-building’) after reading Arundhati’s piece.
Agyatmitra, Pune
The counterbalance in Arundhati’s essay lies in a paragraph in the 21st page. She echoes our misgivings about communist revolutions worldwide when she writes about the “party” being a genuine people’s party when it is the suitor, but doubts if it will remain so after the revolution. History tells us that it’s never been so. Russia, Hungary, East Germany, China, Cambodia, Nepal and, at home, the people’s government in West Bengal suffice as examples. Are Chandu, Kamla, Maase and scores of their comrades in the jungle even conscious of these? These innocents, indoctrinated by a philosophy as heady as their mahua, are caught up in the illusion of the perfect, classless world. The need to believe in something better than their miserable existence has placed them betwixt the devil and the deep sea. A generation of young will die in the forest to live the delusions of others. The country will move on. What the essay tells us about the mining companies and politicians sounds plausible. The poor will remain removed from the dream. The dream will be lived by the others. God deliver us from this indecency of living. Or send us an Avatar.
Samrat Chatterjee, Raipur
Outlook confuses me. On the one hand, it reflects all that is associated with big business and ‘development’—its glossy, screaming ads testify to that. On the other, it has something as remarkable as this!
Talha Chowdhry, Bangalore
Arundhati’s is the only voice of conscience in an India blinded by corporate greed, political corruption, imperial hubris and utter injustice wrought on its own common people.
Alfred Abdul, New York
After the hectoring voices on TV and in other print media, Arundhati’s essay soothed my soul and mind.
Mini Mathew, on e-mail
Arundhati gives voice to the voiceless, and questions the government. We Indians need to be self-critical. When we shape our country’s institutions, we must ensure they are genuinely inclusive. That said, I think Ms Roy provides no alternatives. We simply cannot have a civil war in India. The Maoists cannot continue with their guns and goonda raj. And it is equally improbable that the tribals continue with their age-old practices in the 21st century, living in the forest and competing with endangered fauna and flora—fragile natural resources. India’s population is exploding and the only way to provide decent health, education and living conditions for everyone is through common agreement and the rule of law. How can the tribals be protected in the middle of all this? How can we prevent outsiders (either Naxals/police/politicians) from taking advantage of their ignorance? That is what we have to think about.
Kiran, Grenoble, France
Arundhati’s essay was brilliant—for its narrative style, marshalling of facts and the intrinsic honesty in putting forth her point of view. But more than all this, Vinod Mehta deserves special credit for giving her the platform—and space—for having her say. Which other editor of a mainstream newsmagazine today would allot 31 out of 50 editorial pages for a story like this?
Derek Bose, on e-mail
Arundhati deserves praise for going where none of our armchair journalists go.
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
Did Arundhati actually go to Dantewada or has she written her piece sitting in the AC study of a five-star residential address in the capital?
M.J. Mansharamani, Nagpur
At the end of 2008, I was in Gadchiroli for some research. The stories I heard were quite different from those in Arundhati Roy’s essay. I heard about the murder of a local leader trying to organise his community. More than one person told me that a politician, afraid of the man’s rising popularity, paid the Naxalites to kill him. I heard that the Ballarpur Paper Mills pays the Naxals to cut the bamboo from the forest and that the Naxals, in exchange allow the mill owner to develop the road leading to those forests just enough to let him carry the bamboo out. I heard that there are two job opportunities for people in these villages—the State or the Naxalites. That people from the same families are either in the police force or with the Naxal force. All poor. All desperate. All with little other choice. Unless they can feed their families with one rice crop a year. I heard that Naxalites won’t allow development, yet traders from Bengal have been allowed to set up businesses—for a price. Unlike Arundhati, I couldn’t sleep under the stars in the Dandakaranya forest, enjoying the beauty I was surrounded with. I didn’t have a friend or a comrade with a gun to protect me. Could this be true of others like me? Unlike Arundhati, I would not dare to give a ‘name’ or ‘face’ to the people I spoke to and took photos of, can’t post their images or tell their story on my blog or to a magazine that would want to hear their story. I’m no fan of the machinery deployed by various official, corporate and media forces that work overtime to push the poor and dispossessed who are increasingly ‘falling into the hole’ as Arundhati so eloquently puts it. However, I have heard with my own ears in Gadchiroli the voices of ordinary villagers—the poor, dispossessed and unarmed say in no uncertain terms that the Naxalites are the one-stop shop for the violent settling of scores. Any score.
Nandini Bedi, Amsterdam
Let those who have eyes, see; let those who can, read and understand. I fell in love with Comrade Kamla after reading Arundhati’s piece.
T.M. Dhanaraj, Chennai
For Arundhati, this is probably a thrilling escape from elitist seminar circuits in her designer clothes. The Maoists are supplied with weapons from across the border and they openly say they want to keep elected governments under pressure. They never demand roads, schools, hospitals, in short, better governance for backward tribal areas and brainwash tribals into believing that they do not need these. I’ve seen critically ill patients being carried on tractors to hospitals tens of kilometres away in these areas. It’s not just the mining lobbies that are the cause of the tribals’ miseries. The more grave threat is actually from the Maoists who deliberately deny them a dignified life and access to healthcare and education.
M.K. Devarajan, Kottayam
Would these tribals have raised a war against the state—where they stand to lose everything for nothing in return—had they not been pushed to the edge of survival? And it is we who have pushed them to this brink with our supposedly developmental policies. We are the real perpetrators of the war, not them. And it is we who need to step back and give these desperate souls room to return to an ordinary, peaceful existence.
Reader Man, Calcutta
The words of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire reiterate the incisive truth reflected in Arundhati’s essay. As he says in his seminal book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence? How could they be sponsors of something whose objective inauguration called for their existence as oppressed? There would be no oppressed had there been no prior situation of violence to establish their subjugation.”
Raaj Mondol, on e-mail
If this was a modern country with real democratic values, Arundhati’s essay would have evoked serious debate and discussion, with debates in Parliament and media. In India, however, it will only generate ‘Has-VM-sold-Outlook-to-Ms Roy’ kind of response from its right-wing jingoistic readers or the hysteria of Arnab Goswamis.
B.F. Firoz, Trivandrum
Arundhati’s piece reminded me of what the learned jurist V.R. Krishna Iyer said, “The Indian Constitution is deaf and dumb in these tribal regions. The leitmotif of people’s liberation is the spirit of autonomy, more human rights, less centralism and less illusions about peace through police actions.”
S.M. Kompella, Kakinada
More often than not, mainstream media chooses to ignore the worst cases of state atrocities, not because it is not aware but because we the middle class can’t be bothered as long as there’s food on our table.
Upendra, Winnipeg, Canada
It’s difficult to distinguish between the Naxals and the Navis of James Cameron’s Avatar.
Mazhar Farooqui, Dubai
Journalism at its best. Thank you, Arundhati.
Ashwat Ramani, Hyderabad
Instead of criticising Arundhati for speaking on behalf of people who no one else listens to, we should briefly put ourselves in the place of these men and women. What would you do if you were an adivasi doing the only thing you know how to do in the only place you know that exists and the government drives you away from there because it has conceived some fancy plan to exploit the area? Who do you turn to? It’s more difficult in India to touch a tiger belt than a tribal belt. There’s greater sympathy for animals in India than people.
Sanjay Dhingra, Gurgaon
While Arundhati’s writing is persuasive, she doesn’t offer any viable alternatives. It’s true that tribal exploitation has been rampant in India and these regions are some of the most underdeveloped in the country. But by taking up arms against the state, they have ensured that doctors run away from clinics in these areas, government officials are scared to do their jobs and teachers are not prepared to go to schools. Is it Arundhati’s case that tribals do not need health and education and should be left to live happily off the forest? A majority of India’s population, however distressed we might feel by the efforts of our government, is part of the mainstream because we know it benefits us personally and as a society. Sadly, tribals know nothing better and their leaders have vested interests in ensuring developmental efforts do not reach these areas. Instead of romanticising the tribal dream, people like Arundhati should work with them to develop a way of life so that they can become a part of modern India, albeit by keeping close to their land and their way of life.
Divya Bharati, London
A long story notable for little new except Arundhati Roy’s story-telling ability. Basically what she is saying is that the tribals of Dandakaranya do not need to learn to count beyond 20 and are best off if left alone to live as they have been for thousands of years. The use of violence to protect their way of life is also completely justified. Arundhati evidently suffers not only from directional but logical dyslexia too. If the world follows her foolishly romanticised path, change, the only constant, will become a bad idea, to be opposed at all costs. In short, she is effectively condemning the people whose cause she seeks to promote. She can’t see the tyranny of it because she does not have to lead that life; for her the fruits of the development she condemns are available—including getting her article printed here. Arundhati can pick up any group of people resisting change for any reason and write what she has written with only minor changes. One cannot shake the feeling that somewhere deep down, she is filled with vicious hatred.
Vinod Sharma, New Delhi
I went through Arundhati’s entire essay and while I found enough stats on how much profits corporates make, there was nothing on where comrades get their money or arms from. To me, those who use tribals as human shields are as grotesque as the cops molesting women. Both amount to a rape of humanity.
Kajal Sengupta, on e-mail
By going against the state, the tribals are only providing employment to the likes of Arundhati Roy and human rights activists. The state might consider Maoists the gravest internal security threat but our home minister needs to concentrate on how to deal with an even bigger one—of Arundhati Roy and her tribe.
S.S. Deo, Gurgaon
The last time I read something like this was about Robin Hood and his Merry Band! Arundhati has, as is her wont, demonstrated brilliantly how a bit of erudition and verbosity can make a complete travesty of truth.
A.M. Diwakar, Bangalore
Just a few weeks back, Arundhati was exhorting us to listen to grasshoppers and see how some Indians deny and even celebrate violence. Isn’t she doing exactly the same now: denying Maoist violence, nay, even celebrating it?
Rahul, Delhi
What does a directional dyslexic, capable of getting lost in life’s objectives, do? As Arundhati herself says, “Come hell or high water, I’ll be holding on to Comrade Raju’s pallu....”
A.S. Raghunath, Delhi
Roy loves herself and her writing, never mind if anyone else does or not.
Gayatri Devi, Delhi
There’s only one editor and one magazine in India courageous enough to publish such a daring piece of writing. But why does he allow Arundhati to be bashed up in letters on your web edition? I wish the magazine would start monitoring that space and make it a forum for healthy debate like in the Guardian or New York Times.
Edava Shine Kutty, on e-mail
It is becoming increasingly clear that, in the name of development, we are helping the rich become richer and the poor are being thrown to the dogs. In waging a war against this “internal security threat”, the government seems to be forgetting that these are our people too.
Aarti Khosla, on e-mail
Sixty years of freedom and none of it for people who have lived thousands of years. What a crying shame!
Kailash Chandra, on e-mail
Thank you Arundhati, for making us see how blind our government is.
Jan ez Jalen, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Great effort, great journalism.
Pankaj Yadav, Gurgaon
The time has come to redefine what freedom and independence really mean. If I can be displaced and hounded out of a land where my forefathers have lived for centuries, will I be called free? Yet, there is a ray of hope for Indian democracy that such an article can still be published in a mainstream magazine, that journalism survives amidst gutter press reporting.
Narendra Murty, Calcutta
Every time Arundhati writes, readers often pick on the writer, missing the larger point: that the poor, the adivasis, the Dalits and other marginalised people are bearing the entire brunt of the nation’s economic march. Implicit in their criticism of her is the notion that our way of life is somehow superior to theirs. All subsequent arguments stem from this belief. To dismiss her writing by accusing Arundhati of being a romantic is being naive—and dishonest.
Sajosam, New Delhi
While I can understand Roy’s empathy for tribals, I will never agree with the surgical tools of the Maoists. Given that, Arundhati has used the fundamental right of freedom of expression to the fullest—something no other country except the Indian democracy would allow—even daring to take potshots at the Father of the Nation.
M. Ponnein Selvan, Chennai
Arundhati and her ilk should be banished to the luxurious thousand-star suites in Dandakaranya where they can collect tendu leaves along with the tribals and “live happily ever after”.
Sudharshan, Madras
No doubt our democracy is imperfect and there have been human rights violations. But to compare it to the excesses of Stalin and Mao is revolting.
G. Vijayaraghavan, on e-mail
Writing novels was too easy on Arundhati’s talent, I suppose, which is why she gave it up. Many in India can write a novel, and do. But few put their writing to the use that Arundhati does. One of modern India’s greatest writers is also a true patriot.
Siddharth Chowdhury, on e-mail
The greatest service Arundhati has done to the tribals is to give them a name and face. What have Mangtu, Nirmala and Venu suffered in the last 50-60 years of independent India that they are ready to fight one of the biggest and most sophisticated armies of the world with only knives and front-loading rifles?
K.D.M., on e-mail
Arundhati’s travelogue on the time she spent in the jungles of Dandakaranya in the company of Maoist cadres is a celebration of revolutionary romanticism and her own rebelliousness. You might disagree with what she says but you can’t but be touched by her poetic prose.
Aparajita Krishna, Mumbai
“What this country needs is a revolution,” says Arundhati’s mother, the activist Mary Roy. And along with Comrade Kamla, Arundhati is “marching, not just for herself, but to keep hope alive for us all”. Women are leading the way everywhere you look, and we better take note.
Ahmed Shamim, New York
Lal salaam to Arundhati Roy and the Outlook editor for standing against the tide of state-directed media.
Ranabir Roy, Agartala
India’s gravest security threat, isn’t it Arundhati herself?
Arnav Das Sharma, Nagpur
Exclusive 32-page essay? I could count only 31. Did Chidambaram censor the last page out? Or does ‘The Big Lie’ start with the number of pages?
Pritam Sengupta, Bangalore
Arundhati must be smoking some good tendu if she thinks the Maoists are getting their guns and grenades from the Rs 120 cut from its proceeds they extract from the leaf-buyers.
Jerin Chacko, Thiruvananthapuram
If solutions flowed from the barrels of guns, the Northeast and J&K would have been restored as heavens on earth a long time back.
Alok Verma, on e-mail
Did the train, bus or motorbikes Arundhati would have used for her tryst with the Maoists appear at the wave of a magic wand?
R.K. Asthana, Portsmouth
I am burning my copy of your magazine lest the police arrest me for being in possession of Naxalite/Maoist literature.
Rakesh Babu G.R., Bangalore
