Anuradha Ghandy

Anuradha Ghandy (28 March 1954 – 12 April 2008) was an Indian communist, Marxist feminist theorist, writer, and revolutionary leader. She was a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). She was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist), in Maharashtra.

Among the policy papers drafted by the Marxist movement, she contributed significantly to the ones on castes and 'Feminism and Marxism'. Her writings on feminist theory includes her 2006 book Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement. She made the guerillas realise the potential of worker cooperatives in areas like agricultural production, in Dandakaranya. She was also critical on shifting patriarchal ideas that were then dominant in the party.

In her obituary for Anuradha, with whom she was friends from the days when the latter was still a college student in the 1970s, Jyoti Punwani wrote: "'The Naxalite menace', says Manmohan Singh, 'is the biggest threat to the country'. But I remember a girl who was always laughing and who gave up a life rich in every way to change the lives of others".

Early life Anuradha was born to an older generation of communists, Ganesh and Kumud Shanbag, who were married in the CPI office in Mumbai. Ghandy hails from a Gujarati-Parsi family.

Death Anuradha died of causes related to falciparum malaria on 12 April 2008. Due to her fear of government persecution including arrests or false encounters (she would be seen by the state as a ‘Maoist terrorist’) she had given the doctor she went to for a checkup a false name and dud phone number. When the doctor found that she had the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, he could not get through to her to warn her about these test results. On 11 April 2008, she was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai, but by then it was too late to save her. She died at the age of 54 on 12 April 2008. Systemic sclerosis had weakened her immune system, leading to multiple organ failure, which was, among other things, a contributing factor to her death. It was during her stint in Jharkhand, educating the tribals against oppression of women in their society, when she contracted cerebral malaria. 2001: "People's War has shattered the hesitations of the women of Dandakaranya"

Books 2006: Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement 2012: Scripting the Change: Selected Writings of Anuradha Ghandy 2015: The Caste Question In India