Book review: The Great Brahmin Land Robbery explores impact of land reforms on upper castes in Karnataka

The debut novel of G.S. Krishnamurthy, editor, Oriental News Service

The Great Brahmin Land Robbery, the debut novel of G.S. Krishnamurthy, describes how the life and social atmosphere of a small town in Karnataka got vitiated following the legislation (Karnataka Land Reforms Act).

The debut novel of G.S. Krishnamurthy, editor, Oriental News Service, dwells on the impact of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act on the upper castes and some numerically small communities through a story revolving around the land and people of a small town in southern Karnataka. Humour, pathos and sarcasm have been infused into the story to make the narrative interesting to readers.

Titled The Great Brahmin Land Robbery, it runs into 300 pages and is published by Garuda Books, New Delhi.

The book is a fictional story based during a historical event that transformed the distribution of assets among Indians. It describes how the life and social atmosphere of a small town in Karnataka got ‘vitiated’ following the legislation and the administrative measures introduced by the governments of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and Karnataka chief minister Devraj Urs, and the Left parties’ stance, actions and overtures before, during and after the Emergency. The book touches upon the situation in Chennai in the wake of the Periyar movement gaining ground in Tamil Nadu.

G.S. Krishnamurthy is editor of Oriental News Service. He is a former chief reporter of Deccan Herald, a Bengaluru-based newspaper.

The story is narrated in 60 chapters, and includes a couple of poems. “The story goes into the darker side of the Emergency, the social strife created by the reservation policy, the inhospitable atmosphere and the unpromising future faced by members of an upper caste family,” says Mr. Krishnamurthy, former chief reporter of Deccan Herald, a newspaper based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It dwells on the ‘humiliation’ meted out to the upper castes in the streets of the erstwhile Madras State, and at meetings in Karnataka.

Two chapters — ‘The winds of change’ and ‘The post script’ — describe major political developments at the State and the national levels between 1970 and 1990, and touch upon the public mood at that time, according to the author.

Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya will release the book at a function at the Oxford College auditorium, 4th sector, HSR Layout, on April 16, at 10.30 a.m. Bommanahalli MLA Sathish Reddy will be the chief guest.