It was a tall man in black pants and a full-sleeved shirt, who knocked
on my door at the crack of dawn on Tuesday. I was still fast asleep.
My wife, who opened the door told me that my “friend” had
come to meet me. He turned out to be a friend all right, one who was
a long-standing CPI (Maoist) ideologue and known to me for the past
10 years. It was an unusual time to call on a journalist, especially
one who usually works for long hours in the evening and enjoys a lazy
morning. But then, a professional revolutionary as he is, he
moves when he feels that he can avoid the police. Considering his
constraints in walking through city streets full with “class
enemies”, I let him feel free
and have tea with me.
The main
purpose of his visit was to convey the Maoist’ “feelings”
on the new “surrender policy” that the state government
has announced. It was also to
complain and enquire as to why newspapers were publishing such a “farcical
policy” with so much “prominence”. I, too, found this
session enlightening.
While we have the reaction of many political parties on the matter,
we have not heard anything from those who form the core of the issue
and for whom the government has announced the measures.
My friend
raised some very interesting points related to the new policy. He
pointed out that the state already has several dozens of “comrades”
languishing in various jails. The government is also aware of Premnath,
Ramashankar, Nathuni Mistri, and Baleshwar Oraon, the “comrades”
listed as “extremists”, who are lodged in the state’s
prisons. His question: why is
the government not hiring top lawyers to plead their cases?
Why is
it not giving an acre of land to each of them besides ensuring their
life for Rs 10 lakh and providing them R 2,000 as monthly stipend?
The government’s
surrender policy as announced on Friday says it would hire top lawyers
to plead the cases of “extremists” who surrender. It also
promises
them life endurance coverage to the tune of Rs 10 lakh, besides an
acre of land to each family of “extremists”, a stipend of
Rs 2,000 per month and many
other largess. My friend’s point was that what hinders the government
from providing all the facilities to those who are already in its
custody?
He added,
rather sarcastically, that if the government decided to take care
of the “comrades”, it would “greatly encourage”
those who have “taken up arms” to put them down. Mocking
what the state home minister, Sudesh Mahto, (who announced the“new
and lucrative” surrender policy) had said, the friend asked how
could the state “minion” know that those who were surrendering
were actual revolutionaries?
“The
revolutionaries go as band and baraat members and seize arms from
police stations. The men in khaki don’t sense till it’s
too late, that those beating the
drums and cymbals are actually revolutionaries, who would pounce on
them soon,” he said referring to an attack on the Bokaro police
station, where Naxalites had raided the station posing as members
of a baraat. The ‘friend’ predicted that the surrender policy
would not pay off.
He added:
“It would help some corrupt netas and dalals to present innocent
people as Naxalites and earn Rs 25,000 from the government for encouraging
the extremists to surrender.”
Instead
of making a “farcical and foolhardy” announcement, he added,
the government itself should “surrender to the wishes of the
people, who have
elected it and address their basic problems related to land, employment
and abject deprivation.
I personally
don’t find anything wrong with what my revolutionary friend told
me. In fact, I too find this so called “surrender policy”
as stupid and foolhardy
after my meeting with my friend.
