Quote by Mahasweta Devi: “The downtrodden, the oppressed, must speak for themselves. Their voice matters.”

This quote advocates for empowering marginalized communities to narrate their own experiences, emphasizing the crucial importance of self-representation. It highlights that the perspectives of the oppressed are essential for true understanding and meaningful social transformation, challenging dominant narratives.

Devi's work was deeply rooted in the principle of giving voice to the voiceless. She not only wrote about the oppressed but actively worked to enable them to tell their own stories, advocating for their agency and self-determination in post-colonial India.

Bengali writer and activist, born in Dhaka in 1926, whose fiction exposed the brutal exploitation of tribal and lower-caste communities in India. She received the Jnanpith Award in 1996 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her journalism and fiction, including the celebrated story collection Agnigarbha.