Dear Sonia Gandhi,

I am writing from Calcutta. It’s autumn and Durga Puja time is coming. My puja greetings to you and your children.

A group of women from Koodankulam have written a letter to me, which I am forwarding to you. The content of this letter is of utmost public interest and quite alarming too.

Why do you not visit Koodankulam and listen to the people yourself?

Even at this age (running 87), I feel the urge to go there. I wish somebody takes me there. Throughout my life, I repeat it again and again, I learn more from people than from book.

Sonia, kindly read this letter which I am forwarding and please intervene with the compassion of a mother. Tagore had once written, “we should treat our fellow human beings with compassion”

With the best,

Mahashweta Devi,

12.9.2012