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‘War’s unwomanly
face’ is the title of a Russian translation. But the practice of women guerillas
in the ongoing People’s War shows that war is very much in the nature of women.
One kind of war is against the wishes of not only women but also the broad
masses over the world. Another kind of war is the inevitable one that each and
every member of the common masses is to wage, either with or without arms.
In fact women do war
in their daily lives for obvious physiological, cultural, social and economic
reasons. On the broader level they are making ‘war’ to counter ‘war’, hand in
hand with the other oppressed sections of the masses. So war is not ‘unwomanly’.
It is either anti women, or, for and by women. The feelings of women guerillas
in war shatter the myth of its ‘unwomanly nature’.
Here are some
accounts of women guerillas participating in war in Andhra Pradesh. When asked
about their military experience, the women activists in the squads ranging from
District Committee Members to Squad Members came out with their accounts in an
emotional and self assured tone.
Most of the women
comrades in extreme war areas meet with an encounter with Greyhounds, SSF or the
district police, within a maximum period of six months of their recruitment.
Their primary experience is quite valuable for them, because it enables them to
shed doubts and makes them confident.
Let us start with the
experience of a woman comrade of the DCM rank.
I was in kitchen duty
in a camp when the enemy encircled us from three sides. Initially I thought it
was an accidental fire. I saw someone in civil dress coming out of the bushes
near the kitchen. Mistaking them to be the villagers, I began calling to them.
It was the enemy and they started firing on me. The bullets were buzzing all
around me. I would have died if they hit me. The firing was rapid. I was shocked
and stood still. It did not strike me that I have to fire. I took cover behind a
tree only after the commander told me. I fired one bullet. Everyone retreated to
a distance of fifty yards. I was struck in between the enemy and my comrades.
Later I retreated in their cover firing.
Another comrade of
DCM rank said, When I first saw the enemy I was not clear what to do. I only
know that I have to fire when we see the enemy. I was on sentry duty and saw the
enemy heading towards our den. The den was at a distance and I thought it was
time to go to inform them. So I fired with the .410 musket. The police ran to
the other side of the road and opened fire. Meanwhile my comrades started and
advanced by cover-to-cover firing. All of us retreated.
A section commander
in a Platoon says, Four months after I joined the squad, there was firing.
The police came very near and opened rapid fire with an AK 47. I thought I am
going to die. The squad was scattered. There was no command. The commander alone
fired two bullets. The police chased him. The bullets were shattering the
stones. I was holding an 8 mm single round weapon. I thought a while, took cover
and fired one bullet. The butt and the barrel bent and got stuck. So I was sure
I would fall into the hands of the police. As I was thinking what to do if I
fall, I remembered what I read in ‘Jung’ (the military magazine of the then CPI
(ML)[People’s War]). Accordingly, I thought I would remove the pin of my grenade
and put it like a booby trap below my body. By that time the police firing
stopped. They were loading their magazines. I took the chance and escaped by
rushing.
The experiences of
these two senior comrades tell us that ‘despite being women’, as the bourgeois
myth goes, they showed excellent presence of mind with no previous experience to
count upon. They not only rescued themselves but also retaliated and confused
the enemy. In the course of their increasing political understanding and having
more and more such experiences, they developed to leadership level. They
themselves commanded such firing incidents in the process.
Normally women are
considered to be ‘delicate’ and ‘fearing’ any untoward incident. Perhaps it is
so as long as they are in a certain social framework. Once they are out of it,
we see that they are full of courage, initiative and have an unrelenting
will-power. Here are some more instances.
The comrade who told
the present account was sleeping when the police opened fire. She was the
commander of the defense batch. She immediately woke up and gave the caution,
for ‘covers’, as she put on her shoes. The defense batch advanced five to six
steps and the police again started rapid firing. The police occupied the covers
of the sentry and the defense batch in parallel positions. So the defense batch
took positions then and there itself and started firing. Thus the whole team
retreated safely.
Three of our
organizational squads were together on an occasion. I was the commander of the
camp. The terrain was full of mountains. The police came and opened firing when
I went to relieve myself. I immediately ran back and by that time everyone took
cover and were firing. I too joined them. A police batch came in between the
sentry and us. Another batch went up the hillock from another side. The clamor
mine with the sentry did not work. So the sentry batch retreated by firing in
the opposite direction. I took the command and conducted the firing. First we
made the leadership batch retreat. Later our batch retreated. Everyone retreated
fast. I was left with another comrade. As we were retreating another police
batch attacked from one side. So we started firing towards both sides and
started retreating on to a big hill.
This is yet another
example of women commanding and protecting the whole batch.
With their
extraordinary will-power and revolutionary zeal, women are breaking age-old
convictions of the feudal society. In the following incident, it was later known
that the police commented, ‘we thought women could be got hold of easily. But
despite being women they countered us courageously’.
In this incident the
squad commander and one more comrade were having a bath. As she was washing her
clothes they heard a sound. The second comrade was just about to remove her
clothes. The commander told her to see where the sound was coming from. She
enquired and the police responded with fire.
I was in the stream
below and my clothes were up on a branch. My kit, weapon and pouch were also on
the top. I gave a caution to fire and was wondering how to take my belongings.
First I managed to take my pouch and then took the weapon. I loaded it and
started firing. This made the police go one step back. I saw that there is no
chance to retreat since the stream was quite deep and slippery. I started to get
down slowly and turned back to fire one more bullets. Meanwhile a bullet hit my
hand and there was heavy bleeding. So I handed over my weapon to my comrades and
retreated. The situation made me recollect the sacrifices of the heroic women
guerillas. I understood the importance of sacrificing ones life for the sake of
the people in the People’s War. Though initially the situation made me
apprehensive, I gradually mustered courage.
The incident did not
stop at this point. The police continued combings in various batches. The
guerilla batch was going through a field after giving first aid to the
commander’s wound.
We did not have
proper covers and the police saw us. A village woman saw the police and
cautioned us. Firing started. Though my hand was paining I fired two bullets. I
could have fired more but my weapon got stuck. So I tried to retreat in a fast
run and fell down. Later all of us got down into a stream and retreated.
Speaking about an
encounter in which a senior comrade and three others were martyred, a section
deputy commander of a Platoon gave the following account:
Firing suddenly
started and was rapid. As the firing started the three of us in the first group
became one batch and opened fire. I continued rapid firing until the magazine in
my rifle was empty. The police did not move an inch from the down position as we
were firing. The comrades in the second group either fell or died because of the
rapid firing. We were at a distance. We decided that it is not possible to
protect our comrades. Moreover my magazine was empty. So I had to retreat.
In yet another
incident, the police saw the village youth who went to get water for the squad.
They followed them and reached the den. Three policemen opened fire in a high
kneeling position. One comrade near the sentry was injured.
Recollecting the
experience, a comrade said, ‘I loaded my sten but it got stuck. In fact all
the comrades were sleeping and only three of us had to start the firing. I later
realized that I did not remove the safety pin of the weapon. I removed it and
fired and thus retreated. A police constable died in this incident.
The patriarchal
society sees women as mere tails of men. Here is an incident where a woman
guerilla continued her fight in the people’s war after she saw her husband die.
The commander ordered the comrade to fire the clamor mine when the police opened
fire on the place where the squad was resting. She tried in vain. She informed
the same to the commander. The commander asked her to try again. She tried once
again in vain. So she was asked to come back. As she was returning she saw her
husband lying in a pool of blood. She was shocked and stood still for a while.
There was rapid firing from the enemy and she fell down. Later she managed to
get up and retreat with the help of a comrade.
Malaria is a routine
matter for the guerillas. For the women guerillas this is an added factor with
their given biological routine. On one occasion the police gave a surprise when
they reached the squad that was immersed in dancing with the villagers. They
advanced in bending position. The women comrades in the squad courageously faced
the situation and retaliated without loss.
Women guerillas were
not only good at countering the enemy but also in attacking them. Here are some
accounts of women who participated in raids. A woman comrade had a heavy
discussion with her comrades before she was assigned reccy for a raid. Her
colleagues were apprehensive of her identity, because of the short hair and
other such things. It was her strong will that persuaded them to keep aside
their doubts. The comrade was in the assault group in the raid. She did the
reccy three times before the raid.
We faced unexpected
problems in the raid. The police were sleeping inside the building. There were
glass pieces on the compound wall. There were two entrances. The bunker of the
sentry post was on the other side. So we changed the plan on the spot. We
managed to send one comrade up the wall and got the door opened. All of us went
inside. We were ready with three mines in case the enemy got alert. We put three
mines to the room where the police were sleeping and blasted them. The building
collapsed. The jeep near the ‘A’ sentry post was destroyed. The police inside
the building started shouting. Two policemen died and two more were injured. The
policeman on ‘A’ sentry left his SLR and fled. We were slightly late in taking
hold of the ‘B’ sentry and he opened fire. So we lost the chance of seizing the
weapons inside the building.
The comrade adds,
Initially I was hesitant whether I could lead the assault group or not. This
raid gave me the self-confidence. Nine women guerillas participated in this
raid.
In another raid on a
police station, there were fourteen women out of the total of forty. Two women
were in the ‘A’ assault team and two in the ‘B’ assault team.
I was in the ‘A’
assault team. We were to clear the sentry downstairs and the SI’s room and
destroy the communications. I was in the team for clearing the sentry. Our team
opened fire and started the raid. We entered the station. We killed the sentry
when he opened fire. We occupied the ground floor and tried to blast the mines
we arranged. But they did not burst. As a last resort we got the mines from the
sentry and blasted it. All the mines blasted at a time with a big sound. The
vehicles were damaged. We took control over the station and seized as many
weapons as we could. By that time we received information that additional forces
were reaching the spot. So the whole team retreated at high speed on
motorcycles. All the women comrades fulfilled their tasks with great enthusiasm
in this raid.
The same comrade was
part of an opportunity ambush team in which five of the eight members were
women. It was a sudden opportunity. The team blasted the mines already planted
at the spot. A team even made a flank attack and hit the enemy. The comrade was
part of the flank team.
These are only a few
accounts of the participation of women in the ongoing People’s War. These reveal
not only the revolutionary spirit but also the military capability of the women.
As ‘secondary
citizens’ in a semi feudal and semi colonial country like India, they get
‘empowered’ when they join the class struggle and the armed struggle. The
empowerment is not merely because of weapons. It is because of politics,
Revolutionary politics. There is a continuous struggle against all aspects of
patriarchy, however subtly it may get reflected. This give confidence to the
women to come out as equals with their male comrades. Unlike the revisionists
who mostly seek to keep the women in their traditional role, either in the name
of being over protective or by turning a blind eye to traditional customs that
act to keep women in chains. With the deep feudal prejudices in India unless the
women are encouraged to come out on equal terms with their male counterparts and
away from their traditional roles patriarchy can never be thoroughly combated.
The women interviewed here are a shining example of how women can come forward
in the course of the revolution.
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