Volume 3, No. 9, September 2002

The CPI(ML)[PW] lost one of its able and valiant leaders in the martyrdom of Com. Dadhichi Roy alias Patelji in an encounter on 26th May 2002 in Palamau district of Jharkhand. Along with com. Patelji, three other comrades also laid down their lives on that day. They were Coms. Ramkesh, Ramdayal and Rauthin. The loss of com. Patelji, who was co-opted into the Bihar-Jhakand joint state committee recently in March is a big jolt to the party in both the states.

Com. Patelji had returned from Patna on 26th May by the Palamu express, after a medical check-up. The platoon (PL1) consisting of only two sections at the time had come to the station on the night of 25th May itself. The platoon received him in the early hours of 26th May and went to a nearby village and stayed there till 8AM. When they were about to leave the village, they received information that two empty police vans were seen in nearby Dwarpar village. They sent two of the villagers to find out the details and moved to Marnaghat village and stayed there upto 9AM. They waited there as Patelji had invited a press reporter to the village to issue a statement. Another purpose was to wait for the information to be brought by the two villagers. The police had got information about the squad either in the night itself or early in the morning when the platoon moved in broad daylight. Expecting that they would move towards the Marnaghat hills the police had moved its forces to the top of the hills from a different direction and lay there for ambushing the platoon. The squad was completely unaware about this. The police were keeping a watch on the movements of the platoon. They didn't immedeately attack the platoon but were waiting for complete encirclement from a different direction too. At around 9.30 AM the police attacked the plaoon from the opposite direction of the hill and rained bullets. Some members of the squad including com. Patelji moved towards the hill from a plain area. Five members moved into a stream bed which provided some cover. Com. Patelji and others moved straight into the trap of the police. He was the first one to be hit by a bullet. He fell down. Others tried to lift and drag him towards a cover nearby. In this effort two other comrades also laid down their lives. Com. Ramkesh was also injured in this effort and he was killed by the police. Com. Patelji immediately succumbed to the injury. Four comrades from this batch retreated safely while returning fire. One of them was injured, but his condition is safe. The other batch includinging the platoon comander broke the encirclement while fiercely facing the encounter and retreated safely. This group didn't move towards the hill.

49 year old com. Dadhichi Roy was born into a lower middle peasant family belonging to the Rajput caste. He studied upto B.A. Then he took up work for a livelihood as a casual labourar (on muster rolls) in the Durgawati Irrigation Project, Karamchat (Rohtas). During that time a militant trade union, The Irrigation Workers Union, was formed in Dehri among the workers of the irrigation mechanical workshop. Its branch was formed in Durgawati also. Here he emerged as a militant leader. He came into the contact of the party in around 1980 through a party organiser working in a trade union. He was first arrested in Patna while leading the workers. He was sent to the Bhagalpur jail along with the other workers. After his release he started organising the peasantry into MKSS even while being active in the trade union. In 1987 he was elected into the state committee of MKSS. When there emerged an internal struggle in MKSS between the followers of the party and the opportunist Vinayan clique, com. Patel stood firmly with the party. After the MKSS was banned, peasant organisations were formed with diffrent names in different districts. In 1988 he was elected as the secretary of the Jan Sangram Samiti formed in Rohtas district. He was also taken into the state committee of a General Democratic Organisation formed in the same year. He later became the convenor of its Koel-Kaimur branch. Since 1990 he worked actively in this organisation and also remained an active organiser among the wokers of mines and factories of Amjhor, Kaimur, Banjari in Rohtas district. He also organised the workers of the Arapur mines and Palamu and of Sikni collieries near Chandwa in Latehar district. It is during this period that he became famous as a militant mass leader in the whole of the Koel-Kaimur region. He was elected into the Rohtas-Bhabhua Area Committee in 1988. In the regional conference of Koel-Kaimur in 1990 he was elected into the regional committee.

During this period the police intensified repression under 'Operation Agnidoot'. He led many mass movements against this repressive campaign. He was arrested for the second time. Immediately after coming out of the jail, the police filed a TADA case on him.

The Party directed him to go underground and he went under-ground without any hesitation in 1995.

He started organising the armed peasant struggle in Japla-Navinagar area since 1995 being a member of the Area Committee, even while being a RC member. He later became ACS. Police repression also intesified in the area and the party lost very able comanders such as com. Ajay, Anirudh, Radheshayam and others. It was a very difficult situation for the party. Com. Patelji faced the situation very boldly and led the party with determination. He ably led the combined AC of Japla-Navinagar and Vishrampur-Chatarpur-Patan as its secratary. He was elected the secretary of North Palamu-Garhwa divisional committee in 2001 when the organisational restructuring took place. He was co-opted into the Bihar-Jharkhand State Committee of the party in March 2002.

Com. Patelji was reknowned as a militant mass leader before going underground. After he went underground and plunged directly into the armed struggle at a relatively late age and that too in the plains of Japla area he worked as a bold and militant party leader. He stayed along with the cadre, squad and platoon until he breathed his last and led them from the front in the resistance struggle against the repressive campaign of the BJP government through long range patrolling (LRP) and other methods. All this, he did even though he was relatively new to practical armed struggle and was not skillful in military matters. Here lies his speciality.

Com. Ramkesh, 19, was born into a poor peasant family in Yadunathpur, Rohtas. He was a student in Nehru College, Dehri and had recently appeared for the intermediate exam. He used to do courier job for the party. He had gone along with Patelji only to take some material with him and he was not a squad member. He was posthumously given party membership by the state-secretariat.

Another martyr com. Ramdayal was from a poor peasant background from Hussainabad. He had come into the squad just 6 days back.

Com. Rauthin was a Bengali and had come to Palamu to work as a labourer and came in touch with the party just 15 days back and chose to work in the squad.

Hundreds of people participated in the meeting organised on 1st June at Marnaghat to pay homage to their beloved leader, despite heavy repression. People thus exhibited their affection towards the fallen leader and also their militant nature.

The Party gave a call to observe a bandh of Palamau division comprising of five districts on 7th June. This bandh was very effective. Apart from this, to avenge the kiling of com. Patelji and others, the PL1 of Bihar-Jharkhand unit of the PGA ambushed a police party on 11 June by blasting a landmine in the P.S. area of Chatarpur, Palamau. In this blast, two officers including one Dy. S.P. D. K. Roy and one inspector Arun prasad, who were involved in the killing of Patelji were killed on the spot. Four others were injured. This created a wave of joy among cadre and the exploited masses of Bihar, Jharkhand, especially of Koel-Kaimur and panic among the rulers as they thought that they had finished the party in that area.

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