Tigress stalking Delhi

‘Who is this tigress in Ibrahimpatnam?’ N.T. Ramarao, the powerful chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, asked in 1985. In her 30s, Gita Ramaswamy made collectors, police, and ministers fear her.

The tigress is making her way to the capital.

Gita Ramaswamy’s Land, Guns, Caste, Woman: The Memoir of a Lapsed Revolutionary was launched to widespread acclaim in April this year. ‘Remarkably clear-eyed. … A story of passion and compassion, of a full and considered life’, declared India Today. In the Hindu, Meena Kandasamy described it as, ‘A book like no other … a fierce critique of what is wrong with the Indian Left, what ails the judiciary, and why the poor cannot get justice’.

Born into the conservatism of a brahmin household, Gita’s rebellious heart led her to the Naxalite movement. She witnessed the horrors of the Emergency, left the party disillusioned, and ended up joining dalit labourers in their struggles against bondage and landlessness. Gita Ramaswamy’s story is bringing a much needed reckoning of privileged caste activism.

This September, Navayana is proud to announce two events launching the book in Delhi.

 

Press Club of India—16 September 2022
A Conversation between Nandini Sundar and Gita Ramaswamy
First Floor, Conference Hall,
1, Raisina Road, Near Central Secretariat Metro, Windsor Place, New Delhi
Time: 6 pm

 

Kunzum Books—17 September 2022
Gita will join artist Siddhesh Gautam (Bakery Prasad) and activist–scholar Aatika Singh in a discussion
Kunzum, 45, First Floor, Basant Lok, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi
Time: 6.30 pm

 

Land, Guns, Caste, Woman has lit a spark. Come spread the fire.

At the Ooty Literature Festival, Gita was in conversation with Jerry Pinto on 10 September 2022. Catch the stream here:

 

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