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Mobilising opinion against naxals

Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

Loud and clear: Members of Vandemataram staging a streetplay against naxals in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. —

BHUBANESWAR: The Left wing extremists and their sympathisers may argue that their fight is against injustice and for ushering in social equality. But public opinion is weighing increasingly against their ideology and the means through which they intend to achieve their goal, particularly in the light of the recent bloody act in Nayagarh.

Vandemataram, a city-based group that spreads social awareness on current issues, on Tuesday staged a streetplay on the busy Mahatma Gandhi Marg, depicting Maoists as cowards.

Titled ‘You are not naxalites but cowards’, the streetplay was based on the killing of policemen and civilians and looting of arms from police depots at Nayagarh late on Friday night.

“The killing is inhuman. They cannot go on taking lives of innocent people and unarmed lower-rung policemen. People are slowly getting to understand that naxalism is nothing but another form of terrorism,” Prahlad Nayak, team leader, said.

During the 20-minute play, seven members, with their heads covered with black cloth, enacted the bloody act and how the naxalites celebrated the so-called success of the operation by punching the air with guns.

At the end, the person who played the role of Behera, one of the victims in the attack, described the naxalites as cowards. Hundreds of onlookers gathered to watch the play.

“Naxalites may now enjoy a free run. But the situation will certainly change. We can see a mass of resurgent people taking on the naxalites who are playing bloody games,” Mr. Nayak said. Meanwhile, on Monday, some 700 gram rakshis (village guards), who had been staging protest rallies in front the State Assembly against the government’s alleged step-motherly treatment, rushed to their respective districts such as Nayagarh, Ganjam, Boudh and Kandhamal to help security personnel fight the Left wing ultras. They condemned the brutal killing of naxalites.

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