Maoist’s diary finds its way to book fair

Sobha Mandi is still in the transit camp in West Midnapore as she is yet to be taken under the surrender and rehabilitation police announced by the state government in June,2010. The book titile “Diary of A Maoist” depicts the plight of the tribal and a female tribal woman-turned-Maoist cadre in the Maoist camps.

Besides,it also contains the short poems written by Sobha Mandi. Unlike other pro-Maoist publications,Sobha’s book was released in the book fair quietly. The book includes several photographs of Sobha Mandi after she surrendered to the police,of Maoist training camps and blockade scenes in Junglemahal.

When asked,how Sobha who is in the transit camp coould manage to contact the publisher and hand over her diary,a senior police official said,“She is in our shelter,but she is independent. She can contact anybody she wants.”

Incidentally,the book contains lot of information about the structure and organization of the CPI (Maoists). According to her diary,Kishenji was least bothered about the torture on women cadres in the party. “Kishenji taught us to kill any person who belongs to a particular political party. We were never explained why we would kill people,” Sobha states in her diary.