KOCHI: It was based on a clear direction the Kerala government announced the ‘Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation policy’ for Maoists in the state in May 2018. But the policy seemed to have evoked no response from insurgency groups so far. Intelligence agencies say native cadre of CPI(Maoist) will not come forward to embrace the scheme due to lack of trust on state government and also a majority of the cadres in Kerala hail from other southern states.
According to intelligence officers, the arrest of alleged Maoist leader Danish Krishna from Attapaddy in Kerala has confirmed the growing presence of other state Maoist activists in Kerala. “Most of the active Maoist leaders who operate in Kerala are from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We are expecting any of such leaders to make use of the surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy announced by the Kerala government,” a senior officer said, adding the state government has also not given a strong push to the policy among the target group to attract them.
“After the Nilambur encounter in which two Maoists were killed in a police shoot out, the Maoists sympathisers and activists have become wary of the adamant anti-Maoist stand taken by the state government. There is a lack of trust among Maoists on the real intention of the state,” the officers said and added as per an analysis, nearly 100 Maoist activists, including senior cadre, are from Kerala and they specifically operate in forest areas in Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur and Palakad while a few among them operate from urban centres in the state.
ADGP (Headquarters) S Ananthakrishnan said though the state government had approved the surrender policy, it was not yet ready for implementation. “The policy is yet to be activated for implementation,” he said. Police officers also pointed out that as a majority of the leaders operating in Kerala are from other states, they will opt for their home state for surrender rather than Kerala. The three Maoists –Suresh, Kanyakumari and Chenamma-who surrendered before Karnataka government on June 5 were Maoist cadre operating in Nilambur.