With the alleged killing of two tribal people, who were once part of the Maoist organisation. in a span of three days in Visakha Agency, the Left wing extremists appear to be in a hurry to send a message to the tribal population, who inhabit the hills.
Korra Ranga Rao, a militia commander was killed on Sunday, and on Tuesday, Thambelu Lambayya, a dalam member, was killed, after both were branded as police informers. While Ranga Rao was arrested in 2016, Lambayya was arrested in 2012. They were on bail and facing trial.
The killings come after the Maoists have been facing the heat from security forces. In recent times, there were a number of exchanges of fire, and in one such encounter in September, five suspected Maoists were killed and number of top leaders such as Aruna, Ranadev and Chalapathi were close to being captured or killed.
According to a senior police officer, whenever the security forces make deep strikes, the Maoist resort to the killing tribal people, just to strike fear among them. “They (Maoists) believe that it is the tribal people, especially the surrendered or arrested Maoists, who tip off the security forces on their movement,” the officer said.
Count going up
This year, the Maoists have killed five tribal people, including four who had earlier links with Left wing extremism.
According to statistics available with police, since 25 years, ever since the Maoist movement gathered pace in Visakha Agency, about 140 tribal people, including 60 who served the party at some point of time, were allegedly “executed” by the Maoists.
The idea is to strike fear in the hearts of the tribal people so that their free movement is curtailed, as they fear information leak.
Surrenders
According to a senior officer in the intelligence wing (extremism), another reason for such killings is to stem the spurt in surrenders. This year, there were 33 surrenders, including two divisional committee members and six area committee members.
“Earlier, there were issues and tribal people joined them, as they considered it to be an ideological or political movement. After the security forces have deep forays and government schemes are reaching the tribals, recruitment has dried down and surrender and arrests are on the rise. That is why the Maoists appear to have changed their tactics and are resorting to violence,” said Visakhapatnam Rural SP Attada Babujee.
Security
Despite, a number of former Maoists and arrested cadres being killed, there is no proper protection programme. There is a rehabilitation programme, under which land to build house and some financial benefits are extended. They are also trained with some skills so that they can make living, but there is no protection programme, as in some countries.
“They can choose to settle in other plain areas, but almost all tribal people refuse it, as they prefer going back to their roots,” said a police officer.
