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It is rightly said
that it is in the North Telengana guerilla zone that great experiments are being
made in advancing the Indian New Democratic Revolution. This is also true in the
advances that are made in organising children.
The Radical Bala
Sangham (RBS) is the children’s mass organisation that has come up in North
Telengana. It has its own significant role to play in advancing the
revolutionary armed struggle against the state.
In Nizamabad
district’s Kamareddy Squad Area several villages have RBS units. Moving with the
Kamareddy Squad, we entered P village and we got a standing ovation from the
kids. They were quick to spot out the Squad Commander and follow close behind
him. Just before the May Day procession was about to commence in the village RBS
members of P, responding to the commands of their President, a 12 year old lad,
formed a single line and shook hands with us. I asked a 8 year old boy which
party he supported. Pat came the reply: "People’s War".
But it was not till
we reached neighbouring T village that I got an opportunity to have a detailed
talk with these bubbling revolutionaries.
The squad camped on
the fringe of the forest and just as we were cooling it off under a large tree
on a hot May afternoon, 11 members of the T RBS unit came marching towards us in
single line formation, their President, 14 year old Comrade Kiran, leading them.
The RBS unit was
formed in 1995 and now it had 20 active members. Of the 11 members that came to
meet us at so short a notice, two were bonded labourers, one had discontinued
schooling and the rest were school students.
The RBS members sat
in a semi-circle round us. "What kind of revolutionary work do you do?"—I asked
them. Shekar, their Vice President gave us an account. He said: "We do wall
writing, paste wall posters, report about the entry of strangers in the village,
mark out those who propagate against the party and inform about them to the
village leaders, and run errands for the underground party."
I was amazed by the
knowledge these children had about weapons. One glance was enough and they could
spot out a sten from an AK. This keen knowledge of weaponry comes in handy. Once
a police party visits the village, these kids make a quick survey of the rank of
the officer leading them, the weapons they have, and making a count of their
numbers, they scamper away to communicate this intelligence to the village
leadership.
These young
revolutionaries had even spotted an eve-teaser in the village and they had
complained about him to the village leadership. They were a bit annoyed that the
VRCS leadership had yet not taken any action on him.
The RBS unit meets
once in 15 days. The meeting is attended by a senior member, normally the
Secretary of the village VRCS unit; and they report directly to him. I found
that meetings are seldom missed and even if the VRCS comrade is absent, the RBS
President goes on to conduct the meeting under his leadership.
The 20 member RBS
unit of T village had a five-member Executive Committee. In every meeting of the
RBS unit, each member pays up one rupee as his due. The T unit had a balance of
about Rs 350 in its account. "And what do you do with this money?" I asked them.
Shekar said: "We buy wall writing material with it, we buy our unit’s party
literature and we also buy chocolates and beaten rice with it."
Kiran was quick to
add: "These chocolates and beaten rice we save up for the squad and hand them
over to the squad when it comes to our village."
I was deeply moved by
this sense of sacrifice. The Squad Area Committee Secretary, Com Rajanna, who
was with us in the course of this discussion with the RBS unit, later clarified
that instructions had recently been issued to politely turn down these
contributions from the RBS units.
"Please tell me about
your meetings, how do you conduct them and what do you talk about?"—I asked.
Kiran, ever eager to
answer questions, replied: "We draw up an agenda. We pay homage to martyrs. Then
we study party magazines such as Kranthi and Praja Vimukthi. Next, we discuss
about the work on hand and how to organise the other children in the village.
Finally, we have a criticism and self-criticism session."
The meeting normally
takes two full hours and in the course of it they also sing revolutionary songs.
When I asked them to
sing us one; Mallanna, an eighth standard student, and generally acclaimed as
the singer of the unit, brought out his song book in which he had neatly written
down nearly a hundred songs in his rounded and still immature handwriting. He
shot off with a song.
Kiran also said that
they read out revolutionary stories. "In the previous meeting we started with a
new story book. It is called Children Guerrillas." I later learnt that this was
a translation of a Chinese story that was recently published in Telugu.
Com Kiran had already
read a few revolutionary novels. In his hand he held the Telugu version of the
Chinese novel I want a Pistol. I did not really believe that he had been reading
that 150-page book. I asked him to tell me about it. And Kiran promptly took
off. In ten minutes he narrated all that he had read, making his own judicious
observations at the turning points of the story, and left off somewhere near the
end. "I have another 15 pages to complete and I am simply dying to finish it" he
said.
I wanted to know how
religious these RBS members were. I wanted to know how much of an impact the
movement had cast on their religious beliefs. So I asked them about it. And to
my disbelief this was the answer I got: "None of us believe in god. We do not
worship it because it is stone. It cannot speak."
The RBS was a great
asset to the party. These children whose age varied from 10 to 15 years, were
the eyes and ears of the party. The RBS was a secret organisation. It was
unexposed and the enemy did not know of its members. Not just that, the RBS was
an ideal training ground for tomorrow’s young revolutionaries.
I wanted to get a
measure of how serious they were about the revolution. So I made it a point to
ask each of the 11 members to answer my question as to what they planned to do
after they had grown up. Except one member, the rest said they would join the
squad.
"And what if your
parents should prevent you?" I asked.
There came the ready
answer: "We shall first join the squad and only then tell our parents."
I was deeply inspired
by these young soldiers of India’s New Democratic Revolution. But what gave me
an even greater surprise was when I came to know from Kamareddy Squad Area
Committee comrades a year later, that Com Kiran the 14 year old lad had joined
the squad. I recollected: Was it not young Comrade Kiran who held the book, ‘I
want a Pistol’, in his hand. And, was it not the same Comrade Kiran who said
before we departed: "I want to take up weapons to shoot the cops!"
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