Vexed with the atrocities meted out to them by the banned CPI (Maoist), tribal people in the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) region are demanding that they want development and peace, not an ideology that ends in disillusionment.
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Police records suggest that the Maoists have killed 52 people in Visakha Agency in the last one decade. The victims include six tribal leaders, Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma who were gunned down by the left wing extremists a squad of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the armed wing of the Maoists, on September 23, 2018.
The latest to fall prey to the Maoist violence were M. Mohan Rao and M. Vijay Kumar from Chintalaveedhi village in Pedabayalu mandal in the AOB region on August 2. They died after they stepped on a pressure mine that was reportedly laid targeting the security forces.
A few days later, the Moaists, in a statement, took the blame and regretted the deaths. “This is not enough. We have been enduring such violence since years. Killing people after branding them as police informers has become a norm. Ever since the Maoists have made the AOB their base, we have been caught in the crossfire between them and the security forces,” laments a senior leader of Girijan Sangham. Many youth were picked up just for speaking to a policeman or raising voice against the atrocities, he adds.
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‘Living in fear’
In July 2018, Pangi Sattibabu and Gemili Bhaskar Rao were beaten to death in front of a village during a praja court (kangaroo court). The Moaists dubbed it as an act of revenge claiming that the victims had played a key role in the killing of their leader Sharat in October 2014.
Sharat was lynched by a mob at Veeravaram when he, along with three of his comrades, killed a tribal priest Sanjeeva Rao on October 20, 2014. Another Maoist Kora Nageswara Rao escaped with injuries.
“Such incients are common in the AOB region. We live in fear. They (Maoist) would just walk into our village and pick up anyone on suspicion,” says a former militia member, who called it quits years ago.
A senior police officer who is actively involved in anti-Maoist operations says the residents of G. Madugula, GK Veedhi, Chintapalli, Koyyuru, Pedabayalu and Munchingput mandals have been bearing the brunt of such atrocities.
Road connectivity
More than the atrocities, the tribal people are now concerned about development. Call it political will or initiatives by the administration, development has percolated to some areas, making the people aspire for more.
Yet, almost 1,400 villages in the AOB region are yet to have road connectivity and the officials blame the Maoists for it. “Moists do not want roads to be laid as it will pave way for development,” observed ITDA PO S. Venkateswar.
“Our coffee godowns are blown off, road laying equipment destroyed, cellphone towers torched. Even some coffee estates have been taken over by them. Such activities are keeping development away from us. If we demand development, we are either tortured or killed. The Maoists say that they are people-centric, but their activities tell otherwise,” say Girijan Sangham members.