The former Bastar Inspector General of Police (IGP) S.R.P. Kalluri was welcomed at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on Saturday with a few students chanting ‘ jai Siya Ram ’ and ‘ Bharat Mata ki jai ’ as he walked to stage to share his views on ‘ rashtriya patrakarita ’ (national journalism).
Mr. Kalluri, during his tenure as the Bastar IGP, was at the centre of controversies for his alleged high-handedness and human rights violations in the Naxal-affected region.
At the seminar on media, an audience member asked Mr. Kalluri about allegations that journalists were forced to leave Chhattisgarh during his tenure. Dodging the question, Mr. Kalluri instead chose to talk about how human rights activists are maligning his image and how adivasis of the State are victims of Maoists.
“Maoists are fooling adivasis in Chhattisgarh. They are giving them hopes of revolution and brainwashing them. In reality, adivasis don’t care about any of that. They can derive unlimited happiness from limited resources,” Mr. Kalluri said.
In an attempt to shed light on the state of adivasis there, when he had joined as the State police as a Superintendent of Police in 2004, he said they are indeed victims. “Militants visit a house, have dinner, and rape their wives and daughters. The next day, police enters the house to torture them for sympathising with militants.”
Attacking the human rights activists working in the State, he said their activism is a ‘business’ and alleged that they make money out of it.“They [intellectuals] claim they are working for the adivasis but instead they extract money from the State.
Meanwhile, more than 25 people staged protest outside the IIMC against the yagya that took place at the venue and questioned the presence of Mr. Kalluri at the event. However, IIMC’s Director General KG Suresh, defending the seminar, said if the yagya will not happen in India then where else. He also said when Hurriyat leaders were invited for talks,there were no issues. “There’s an issue if an IPS officer like Mr. Kalluri is called.” The officer alleged that ‘a handful of intellectuals’ had defamed him.
