The Hindu : The spiralling violence in AP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 28, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

The spiralling violence in AP

W. Chandrakanth

HYDERABAD

The people of Andhra Pradesh are getting caught in a spiralling violence that has engulfed the State in the name of extremism and police counter-measures. And it is the rural and tribal population of several districts who are suffering for no fault of their own.

The latest victims of the naxalite violence are a TDP functionary, Chandrasekhara Reddy of Gunipalle of Anantapur district and a 40-year old tribal, Sode Veeraiah of Venkatapuram mandal in Khammam district.

The first fell victim to the guns of the People's War while the second succumbed to the brutal third degree methods of the police on a combing mission. Reddy was accused of being an agent of the State and the other was branded an informer. The name of the game — give the dog a bad name before killing it.

The latest violence takes the total of those killed by the banned outfit to 2,950; the State has snuffed out 4,050 lives in retaliation. About 360 political party functionaries including former Speaker, D. Sripada Rao and former Home Minister, A. Madhav Reddy, have lost their lives in the process. The naxalites have also targeted police officers like Vyas and Umesh Chandra, and the retributive violence has seen killings of prominent civil liberties leaders such as Dr. Ramanatham.

Those are the statistics. But the figures don't tell you anything about the ground reality in the State. Though initially it was the Congress that paid with the lives of its leaders, it is now the turn of the TDP-BJP combine. The effort to make naxalism an election plank has altered the situation.

In the no-holds-barred violence the State is witnessing today, the helpless villagers of the `disturbed areas' and residents of semi-urban centres wonder whether they will be in a position to exercise their choice freely.

Somla Naik, a casual labour near Devarakonda of Nalgonda district says, "Why should I risk my life going back to my thanda (hamlet)? In fact, the police killed my neighbour last week. Later they said he died in cross firing. They mistook him to be a naxalite. And earlier, the naxalites thrashed me once for not updating them on the police movements".

"If naxal violence is the handiwork of a few, State violence is carried out by an authoritarian police force. The counterproductive stands of both sides make little sense to civil society. It has now become a dangerous game of hide and seek", sums up noted human rights activist, Dr. Balagopal.

It is common knowledge that the banned organisation enjoys being in the limelight even if for all the wrong reasons. It enjoys the headlines that its killings generate.

"Don't I have a right to vote? Or canvass?" Chinna alias Venkateswara Rao, a petty vendor of Palnadu region, one of the affected areas in the coastal region, wants to know. The grassroots level party workers face a dilemma. More than 300 activists of the TDP and the BJP have resigned so far and every naxal killing is triggering more desertions. Meanwhile, the activists of rival parties fear police reprisals. As Chinna says, "Midnight knocks have become a nightmare to us".

Five years ago the question of talks cropped up. A Committee of Concerned Citizens came forward with the suggestion that perpetual armed conflict was not acceptable to society. But reports also indicate that organisations working democratically to establish violence-free zones in agency areas like Paderu are facing police harassment.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National