Govind Pansare's death leaves higher demand for his books

You can kill the man, but not his message. Less than a week after Govind Pansare, the senior Left leader and one of Maharashtra's public intellectuals was shot at, the sales of his books have shot up.

The 82-year old CPI leader, known for his work among the weaker sections of society like hawkers and slum dwellers, was also a prolific author with over 20 books to his name. However, his most popular one, which has run into its 38th edition – almost a record by publishing standards – was Shivaji Kon Hota? (Who was Shivaji?).

Originally a speech delivered in May 1987, which presented a powerful, alternative re-telling of the saga of the 17th century king, the book has sold over a lakh copies, and is counted as a runaway success. Published by the CPI's Lokvangmaya Griha Pvt Ltd, which had Pansare as the chairman, the book has been translated in languages like Hindi, English, Kannada, Urdu and Gujarati, and is a handy primer for progressive activists.

“After the attack on Govindrao, the demand for Shivaji Kon Hota has soared. Earlier, while around five to six copies were sold daily, we have sold around 150 from Monday (around 50 a day),” an employee at the Lokvangmaya Griha's People's Book House in Fort told dna. He added that other books by and on Pansare had also seen a spike in demand, with people from other cities too calling up to place their orders. “Some people are buying around five copies at a time,” he pointed out.

“We have sold up to 3,000 copies of Shivaji Kon Hota in a week. We have pending orders, but have run out of copies, and have sent a fresh lot for printing on Friday,” said Nayana Satam of the Lokvangmaya Griha. This will be the 38th edition of the book with many print runs varying from 3,000 to 5,000 copies. Over 1.25 lakh copies have been sold so far.

The demand of Pansare's other books, like those on Muslims, Marxism, globalisation, Kashmir, Panchayat Raj, the anti-superstition law and Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, are also in demand; however, that for Shivaji Kon Hota outweighs them all. On his golden jubilee, the Comrade Govind Pansare Golden Jubilee Committee had brought out books on grass-roots activists and unsung heroes of the Left movement like Sudamkaka Deshmukh, Parvatibai Bhor and Gulabrao Ganacharya.

“His thoughts will always live on,” said Satam, adding that Pansare looked into the finer points of the publishing house and the marketing of its books. “Recently, when there was a lull in the publishing business, there were questions on our survival... but he was insistent that we would find a way out and increase the sales and marketing for our books,” she said, adding that Pansare wanted to attract young readers by moving beyond the traditional sales strategies.

Pansare had also held a series of lectures on Rajarshi Shahu in various colleges in Mumbai.

Unlike many xenophobic leaders like those of the Sambhaji Brigade who target Brahmins across the board, and even call for riots against them, Pansare pointed out that Brahminism or Brahmanya was a 'disease' which comprised of hating others and considering oneself supreme regardless of flaws, which was not peculiar to the Brahmins, but also affected other castes.

What is the gist of Shivaji Kon Hota?
In this well-researched book, Pansare has pointed out that Shivaji was a secular king who stood out from most of his contemporaries, due to virtues like respect for women, secularism and love for his people. In contrast to the anti-Muslim image of Shivaji Maharaj as created by the Hindu Right-wingers, Pansare explained that many of his generals like Admiral Daulat Khan, artillery chief Ibrahim Khan and many of his troopers were Muslims.

Shivaji also respected all religions, abolished serfdom, framed pro-farmer policies by doing away with arbitrary powers of local satraps (like Deshmukh's) to collect land revenue, took on established interests, and appointed Dalits and backward classes to prominent positions. In contrast with the modern version of the predatory state, Shivaji also warned his soldiers against “touching a vegetable stalk in the farms of the ryots (farmers).”