By Ashutosh Mishra
Bhubaneswar: Two hardcore Maoists, who gave up arms in the hope of leading normal lives, took the wedding vows in a temple in Angul district the other day. The ceremony marked their return to the social mainstream, something that many rebels secretly crave for but find hard to achieve because of their circumstances.
Sucked deeply into the vortex of violence that seems to have become the credo of the rebels most of them cannot think of a way out of it. Retracing their steps could mean putting their lives at risk with Maoists unlikely to forgive the “renegades.” Only the lucky few manage to survive the threat of revenge from their ex-comrades.
But making an attempt at return to normal life is worth all the risks involved as the so-called revolution that the modern Maoists are trying to achieve is bereft of any ideology. The entire left-wing movement seems to have degenerated into a cult of lumpenism. These days they don’t even bother about maintaining the facade of being idealists.
No wonder newspapers frequently come up with reports about fake Maoists trying to extort money from contractors and businessmen and innocent tribals being killed by rebels after being branded police informers.
In fact, the veneer of idealism got stripped off the movement long ago when stories of sexual exploitation of women cadres started emerging from the Maoists camps. Cases of rape and sexual torture have been reported from camps in Odisha also. In 2010 two women Maoists who gave up arms in Keonjhar district gave a hair raising account of the atrocities committed on them in the jungle camps. One of them, who was just 16 at the time of surrender, recounted the horror of being sexually assaulted by drunk comrades. Another said that women cadres were often forced to share the beds of their male colleagues. From their accounts it was more or less clear that women, instead of being treated as fighters and regarded as equals by their male colleagues, were seen more as objects of sexual gratification.
Given this backdrop, it is not surprising that many Maoists, especially the women cadres, secretly nurse a desire to surrender and give up up arms at the first opportunity available to them. But when they do this they expect full protection from the government and quick steps for their rehabilitation.
It is here that state’s role becomes all-important. While most state governments have their own surrender and rehabilitation policies Centre reimburses the expenditure incurred by them in this regard. In 2013 the government of India revised the guidelines for ‘Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Scheme of Left Wing Extremists in the affected States’ with the offer of a much better compensation package including immediate cash grants and monthly stipends for rebels who give up arms.
Some states have sought to make the package even more attractive with special incentives. Odisha government, for example, had decided to throw open the doors of its skill development centres (SDCs) and industrial training institutes (ITIs) to the Maoists seeking social rehabilitation following surrender. It is with such initiatives that the government can hope to put an end to the scourge of left-wing violence in the state.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)