Gadchiroli, 23 June (Hindustan Times). A case telling the story of to what extent Naxalites who do not follow the constitution of the country can stoop has come to the fore in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. After killing a tribal youth, the Naxalites harassed his family to such an extent that they had to leave their home, farm and village and get displaced.
Sainath Chaitu Narote, a youth of village Mardhur located in Bhamragarh tehsil of Gadchiroli district, wanted to do something for his family. To extinguish the fire in his stomach while serving the country, Sainath decided to join the police. He had gone to join the police, but could not join due to some reasons. As a result he decided to return to the village. Naxalites want to forcefully involve every tribal youth in their gang. In such a situation, the Naxalites lost the dream of a tribal youth to join the police. Because of this, the Naxalites shot and killed Sainath in front of the entire family on March 09.
After this incident, the police swung into action and arrested dreaded Naxalite Prakash alias Devidas alias Adwe Mure Gawde on March 14 in connection with Sainath’s murder. At the time of this arrest, other Maoist accomplices of Gawade fled from the spot. On the other hand, the state government announced to give Rs.8 lakh as financial assistance to the Narote family. More than 10 murders and 25 serious crimes are registered against Gawde, who has been synonymous with terror for the last 23 years. The Naxalites were enraged by the arrest of Gawde. Naxalites ordered the people of village Mardhur to boycott the family members of late Sainath. This left the Narote family isolated in their own village. After this the Naxalites started threatening this family day and night. Due to this the Narote family was forced to leave their home, farm and village and hide in an unknown place.
The heinous act of Naxalites continues even after this. The Naxalites have issued a decree against social worker Datta Shirke, the convenor of Jan Sangharsh Samiti, who brought the story of Sainath Narote to the world. Srinivas, spokesperson of the Naxalites’ Dandakaranya West sub-zonal bureau, has ordered tribals to stay away from intellectuals like Datta Shirke. The Naxalites have warned that those who talk about the government and its development work will have to lose their lives by listening to the words of people like Datta Shirke.
When contacted by the Narote family who were forced to hide in an undisclosed location, Sainath’s brothers narrated their story with tears in their throats. He told that his father has become old. In his entire life he had not seen the world outside the jungle. As a result, he can only speak the Gondi-Madia language. It is not possible to communicate in Marathi and Hindi. The memories of village, farming, jungle, Sainath and the fear of death are clearly visible in the eyes of this family.
