A group of Maoists surrendering before Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in Bengaluru Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Six Maoists, who were active in Karnataka, surrendered before Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here on Wednesday.
With this, Karnataka had taken a big step towards becoming “Naxal free”, Mr. Siddaramaiah announced and said that the government would soon take a call on the dissolution of Anti Naxal Force (ANF). Only one known Maoist activist, who quit the movement several months ago, is still at large.
Latha’s gesture
On behalf of the Maoists, Mundagaru Latha, leader of the group in the State, symbolically handed over her olive green uniform and received a copy of the Constitution of India from Mr. Siddaramaiah. She also handed over a petition with a list of their demands that include distribution of land to the landless, rejection of the Kasturirangan Committee Report, and the removal of the national park tag for the Kudremukh National Park.
Of the six who surrendered four — Mundagaru Latha, Mareppa Aroli alias Jayanna, Sundari Kuttaluru, and Vanajakshi are from Karnataka, and K. Vasanthan and Jisha are from Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively.
Ms. Latha said that they were joining the mainstream abjuring the path of violence in order to continue their pro-people struggle in a democratic and constitutional way. “We will assure the people that we will fight for them till our last breath,” she said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah welcomed the six Maoists into the mainstream and said the government would facilitate their rehabilitation as per the government policy and whatever that could be done within the legal framework.
He said the Deputy Commissioner of Chikkamagaluru had already issued an order approving their rehabilitation package.
For school
Mareppa Aroli pledged half of his rehabilitation package to the Government Primary School in his village Aroli in Raichur district.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the six Maoists had realised that the system could not be changed through violence.
“Babasaheb Ambedkar had said after Independence and adopting of our Constitution, we have to abjure the mode of revolution, civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When constitutional avenues are open, there is no space for unconstitutional means,” he said.
Special fast-track courts
The Chief Minister also announced that the government would set up special fast-track courts to try cases against the six at the earliest.
He also said that he would speak to the Chief Ministers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where these Maoists have cases pending against them and seek their cooperation to rehabilitate them.
Responding to the charter of demands placed by the Maoists, he said he would discuss it in the Cabinet and take a call.
Earlier in the day, there was some drama as the Maoists were expected to surrender before the Deputy Commissioner of Chikkamagaluru, but the venue was shifted to the Chief Minister’s home office in Bengaluru.
Banjagere Jayaprakash, who was one of the persons involved in getting the Maosits to surrender, said the process of convincing them to join the mainstream picked up pace after the death of another Maoist, Vikram Gowda, in an encounter with the ANF in November 2024.
Published – January 08, 2025 09:52 pm IST