Twenty eight Naxalites belonging to different Naxal Dalams in Gadchiroli and border areas of Chhattisgarh have surrendered before Gadchiroli police as a result of its initiative ‘Campaign Navjeevan’.
Exposing them for the first time on Tuesday in a Programme called ‘Manomilan’( Meeting of Hearts) at Gadchiroli police headquarters, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police(SP) Mohammad Suvez Haque said that the surrendered Naxal's identities were made public only after taking permission from all of them.
‘Campaign Navjeevan’, an initiative of Maharashtra police under which senior police officials visited the families of Naxal cadres who hailed from the state and appealed them to surrender assuring them fair treatment, was silently lunched in the month December last year.
“Every family we met during this drive, we observed that some kind of injustice or ill-treatment had driven these Naxals to join the Naxal Dalam like some problems on the family front or village politics. We started meeting these families from December last year and intensified our campaign in April this year as a result of which we have these 28 people who have forsaken the path of violence” said Mr. Haque.
During the Campaign Navjeevan, the SP himself, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Gadchiroli range Ravindra Kadam and Aheri Additional SP Rahul Shreerame paid visits to the families of senior Naxal leader including that of Korchi Area Secretary of CPI (Maoist) Gopi alias NIringsay Madavi and Pahad Singh, the Divisional Committee Member of South Gadchiroli division of CPI (Maoist).
The responsibility of visiting the families of Dalam members falling in their areas was given to respective police station officers and Sub Divisional Police Officers (SDPO).
These policemen often visited the families of Naxalites with gifts and with an assurance of “safe surrender and fair treatment”.
“The answer of bullet will be given with bullets but those who want to give up the path of violence and come to the mainstream then here is an alternative for them” said the SP.
All the family members of the surrendered Naxals were present on the occasion and many family members of the Naxals who have not yet surrendered were also present.
Appealing the family members of many other Naxals who have not surrendered, Mr. Haque said there are only two options with every active Naxal now, either to die of a bullet or to surrender and live a peaceful life.
Gadchiroli police also arranged the marriage of a couple from the surrendered Naxals on Tuesday.
Jeevan alias Surendra Narote, the platoon A Commander of Tipagarh Naxal Dalam was married to Janaki, a member of Naxal’s cultural wing Natya Chetana Manch and the cops played the role family elders in the marriage.
DIG Kadam appealed to the youth from urban areas who are getting attracted towards left wing extremism “not to get lured by false dreams propagated by the extremist “ and said that the naxals have achieved nothing even after so many years of bloody fighting.
