Maharashtra villagers ‘challenging’ Naxals
MUMBAI: Last Sunday, residents of four villages of Bhamragad taluka in Gadchiroli district destroyed monuments built in memory of Naxal commanders killed in police encounters. Though this is being hailed by the police and government as a big change in the psyche of the villagers, the ground reality might be different.“The memorials were a symbol of Naxal dominance as they used to gather the villagers for meetings there. This is the paddy season and Naxals extort 5-10 kg of rice from every person in the village. So the angry villagers vented their frustration on the memorials,” said Shivraj Thadve, Sub-Inspector, Dhodraj police outpost.
Though the monuments destroyed were in the vicinity of four villages, people from at least eight to ten villages participated in the operation.Given the huge number of people involved in the demolition, the possibility of retaliatory action by the Naxals diminishes, Thadve added.The villages are situated deep in the jungle, and lack of good roads and bridges used to cut these villages off from the rest of the world for months together during the monsoon season, which had made them the bastions of Naxals.
“A bridge that was recently built on a river near Jui village, paved the way for change,” said Datta Shirke of Jan Sangharsh Samiti, an NGO that coaxed the villagers to stand up for development of the region.
“The change is not sudden. It is a culmination of continued effort by the police,” said Nagpur-based journalist Kartik Lokhande. According to him, the act is a sign that the anti-Naxal operations of the Gadchiroli police have started bearing fruit.
The police had recently organized ‘Maharashtra Darshan’ trips for schoolchildren in Naxal infested areas. Also, a rally of family members of martyrs killed in Naxal violence, was recently held at Nagpur. While such soft measures increased the tribals’ exposure to the world, hard measures like aggressive policing, increased visibility, and mobility of police forces has raised the moral of the villagers.“Earlier, any poster, banner or even flag put up by the police or anybody other than the Naxals used to disappear within hours. Now, even in deep jungles such banners, posters and flags can been seen intact for days and even months,” said Shirke, citing an example of the changing psyche of the people.
However, there are others who feel that it might be hasty to read too much into the incident.
“The police themselves used to destroy such monuments earlier. Now they have started using villagers for the purpose,” said a Gadchiroli Zila Parishad member on condition of anonymity as he didn’t want to be named for fear of being identified as a pro-Naxal element.In the photographs of the destruction of the monuments in Nelgunda, Midadapalli, Gonwada and Pengunda, released by the police, none of the villagers have covered their faces. “This might be interpreted as end of Naxal-terror in he area. But, such an assumption would be far removed from reality,” the Zila Parishad member said.