Dudiya: In Your Burning Land

by Vishwas Patil

on Jul 13, 2023

Civil servant Dilip Pawar is posted as Election Observer in the Naxal-infested districts of Chhattisgarh. What happens in the next seventy-six days of his posting till the general election results are announced changes his outlook on life forever.

He experiences firsthand the Naxal menace which is a burning reality in Chhattisgarh today. There he meets Dudiya, a spirited young Adivasi girl whose destiny is trapped between the two blades of a pair of scissors, the state administration on the one hand and the Naxals on the other. Having no way out she joins the Naxals as a young girl and trains with them in the remote and inaccessible Abujmarh mountains.

However, she ends up feeling disillusioned and trapped, and surrenders to the police. But now she is a refugee branded as a traitor by the Naxals who are gunning for her life. This fast-paced novel featuring thrilling encounters, ambushes and races against time, highlights the burning issue of Naxalism plaguing Chhattisgarh and other Naxal-infested states of India.

The poverty-stricken tribals caught in this vicious circle of Naxal and state violence and vendetta have no choice but to live under the shadow of guns blazing from both sides.