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In 1996 October, it
was resolved in the South Telengana Regional Committee (CPI (ML) PW) meeting
that to combat the venomous culture of Imperialism and feudalism and to make
people stand by the revolutionary movement it is necessary to organise and
develop the armed Jana Natya Mandali troupes.
In the given
circumstances since it was not possible to form JNM troupes, as the comrades
from the squads could not be withdrawn for this purpose, a JNM committee was
formed with three people, to start with. These three comrades continuing in
their respective squads, had to guide the cultural field separately taking time
to discuss the cultural issues in the committee’s separate meetings. Even before
the committee members could meet together, two leading comrades who played an
important role in making this decision were killed in fake encounters and the
dark clouds of state repression were thickening, spreading to the whole area of
South Telengana. Those martyred comrades were Orugenti Sudersan alias Mahender
and Mekala Damodar Reddy (Sanjeev) both state committee members and responsible
leaders of South Telengana. Because of the repression the links between the
regional committees were cut and it took time for the JNM to become functional.
In the 1997 August regional Committee conference new tasks were defined and it
was resolved to form a JNM squad, instead of a committee. Com. Pallerla Swamy’s
martyrdom in the covert operation of the State in Pavurala gutta once again
caused delay, since he was a leading member in that cultural squad. So it was
finally in 1998 June that the JNM squad with five members was formed.
On the other hand the
Joint Action Command formed with the Center-State (5 states) co -ordination
launched an all out attack on the revolutionary movement. It was in that period
of repression that the JNM squad was born in Nalgonda district. Though a baby of
that revolutionary culture was born it could not cry out in that silent jungle
of cruel repression. In the concerted combing operations of the state, with its
gray hounds, the movements of the very squads itself was difficult. In such a
situation one cannot imagine the movement of a word or a step or a song by the
JNM. The JNM means the sound of a daphli and ghunghoo. Sounds of music and
sounds of word. But it was not a legal organisation to throw its vibrating
resonance into the sky. It is the cultural wing of the Party of armed struggle,
so the repression on the Party included repression on the JNM. So it had to
mould its working methods to adjust to the repressive conditions. While the
repression was intense, the JNM used to concentrate on writing and creating
cultural forms. Wherever some relief was found the squad would give performances
and sing songs. Mainly the performances were confined to camps and to the cadres
because of the repression. At the same time many songs, poems, responses, street
plays, stories were written. From the time of formation of the JNM squad, this
was how a cultural atmosphere was created in the squads all over Nalgonda
district.
With this inspiration
whenever the squads used to meet for any occasion, during the meetings
(conferences), at the camps, forums were conducted with the encouragement of JNM
and the armed members of the squads would write poems and sing songs. In these
circumstances Com. Mukka Venkateswarlu alias Kiran, the secretary of the
district committee became a martyr in Oct. 98. Attachment for him in the squads
made one and all not only raise their arms in vengeance, but also their pens. In
memory of Kiran and Prabhakar, the Mekdhumpalli martyrs, 40 poems, 7 songs and
two responses and an elegy i.e. prose were written. To propagate this, Xerox
copies were made of written manuscripts (in many of which com. Divakar’s
beautiful handwriting could be seen) and distributed among all squads and mass
organisation in the district. With this, except for one or two in the squads,
every body wrote a poem or a song on those martyrs. Though it was Kiran’s
martyrdom which made every body write, it was also the cultural atmosphere
created by JNM which helped.
The members of the
squads have written on other martyrs and incidents also. On the whole 52 poems,
55 songs, 4 responses, 2 street plays, 2 stories could be collected by the JNM.
The majority of the writers were new to writing. Many of them had learnt reading
and writing through Party education only. So these writings are to be judged,
not for their skills, but for their expression or feelings. Some are very
effective, though they were very new.
All these writings
came between Oct. 98 and Feb’ 99.In these repressive conditions, performances
were given mainly in the camps for the cadre.
In the 1998 Nalgonda
district plenum a cultural and literary forum was orgnised in memory of the
Gotta martyrs. Two street plays were performed;on state violence, and the other
on repression. Dance performances were given on the victory to the Red Army; and
the martyrs or Varkas Palli.
In the political
classes conducted for the DC and AC (Area Committee) comrades, two street plays
were performed on Dowry and Imperialist culture; and also a Relare-dance — all
by the Swamy Literary and Cultural Forum. Care was taken to control the sound of
the performances.
Five days classes
were conducted on art and writing for the JNM squads. How to sing a song in a
low voice,how best a mobile squad can give a cultural performance were the main
tasks taken up for training in the repressive conditions. The primary steps in
dance were also taught. The dance steps were practiced later as military steps.
Nine guerrillas of the Rachakonda Dalam learnt these steps, songs, dance and
street plays in these camps. 26 songs were recorded in two cassettes. These were
distributed among the squads and mass organisation.
(Translated form
Telugu)
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