AN UNFINISHED REVOLUTION

AN UNFINISHED REVOLUTION A HOSTAGE CRISIS, ADIVASI RESISTANCE AND THE NAXAL MOVEMENT

KISHALAY BHATTACHARJEE

An analysis of Adivasi resistance and the Naxal movement through the 2012 Kandhamal hostage crisis.

‘Kishalay Bhattacharjee’s narrative provides anecessary hearing aid to a regime that fetishizes internal security. As anacute listener, he captures the tension between Adivasi resistance and theNaxal appropriation of the event; an intense story and an investigation of akidnapping and a revolt told with empathy and irony’ Shiv Visvanathan

On 14 March 2012, two Italian nationals, Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo, were taken hostage from the tribal-dominated Kandhamal area of Odisha, in eastern India. The kidnappers belonged to the extreme left-wing radical group known as the CPI (Maoists). They were led by Sabyasachi Panda who had been involved in several militant activities since 1999.

What followed was a dramatic month-long crisis in which a crew of television journalists engaged with the Maoist leader and facilitated the release of Claudio. 

An Unfinished Revolution: A Hostage Crisis, Adivasi Resistance and the Naxal Movement is a racy, first-hand account that tells the tale of the hostages, from abduction to release. It also chronicles the history of tribal resistance which was appropriated by the Maoists – a movement that has been one of India’s major internal security challenges since the late 1960s.

KISHALAY BHATTACHARJEE

Kishalay Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist who has reported from India’s conflict zones for over two decades. His previous books include Che in Paona Bazaar and Blood on My Hands. He has received several awards including the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism award (2006-7) for his coverage of internally displaced people. His coverage of the abduction and rescue of two Italian tourists was nominated for the best current affairs programme by Association of International Broadcasting (AIB) Awards in 2013. He currently teaches in the School of Journalism and Communications at OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana.