HUGE CRACKS IN THE RED EDIFICE

Two big Maoist rebels lay down arms—a crafty surrender policy helps silence guns peacefully

- By Rahul Noronha

IT WAS LIKE A DIWALI BONUS: TWO TOP MAOISTS laying down arms, each with a huge trail of cadre and arms. It happened separately, in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, but as part of a single wave—like parts of a weakened mountain crumbling. Those who have come in from the bush call it not a surrender but a continuation of their work for the oppressed, minus arms. An indulgent State is welcoming it and playing along—in Chhattisgarh, it even christened it ‘Puna Margem’ (A New Life) to mark it out as a rehabilitation.

Call it what you will, it’s the one of the biggest subsidence of insurgency in these parts. On October 14, in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, it was politburo and central committee (CC) member M. Venugopal Rao alias Bhupathi or Sonu who turned himself in; 60 cadres followed, with a 54-weapon cache. A day later, a formal ceremony happened before CM Devendra Fadnavis. Then, on October 17, 210 cadres led by CC member Satish alias Rupesh surrendered before Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai at Jagdalpur.