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Have you ever heard
of Ramaswamy? I bet you never have. If you are a news buff, at best, you may
have read a ‘cliched’ news item buried insignificantly in a local newspaper,
detailing how an unidentified Naxalite was killed in an ‘encounter’. I know you
never cared to read such items, not to speak of showing any interest in finding
out the identity of the Naxalite.
Spare a thought for
this young Dalit hero, who braved a pack of special task force policemen and
laid down his life in the process and saving several top leaders, including the
State secretary of the AP committee. Not that Ramaswamy was the first one to lay
down his life while fighting the enemy and protecting the lives of fellow
comrades nor was he the last to do so. Ramaswamy needs a special mention for, he
represented a select group of youth that were labelled ‘lumpen’ but transformed
into the sons of the revolution. From a wayward and spoiled son of a Dalit farm
labourer to a commander of a local guerilla squad, the 24-year-old Ramaswamy’s
was a saga of transformation — a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
When Ramaswamy told
his father that he would be joining the People’s War four years ago, his father
hackled him and said: "It is a party of committed and sincere people. There
is no place for the likes of you that play hookey and revel in ‘enjoying’ life
rather than enriching it." Ramaswamy chose to stick to his guns, the words
of his father reverberating in his ears. Within no time, Ramaswamy learnt the
ways of revolution. A dab hand at many things, he traversed extensively in the
Chenchu villages of Nallamala and got acquainted with their lingo. He started
off in this ‘uncivilised’ world and earned the warmth of the Chenchus.
The Chenchus saw in
him a saviour that paved the way for the formation of a local guerilla squad
with Ramaswamy as its commander. The formation of the LGS coincided with the
State committee plenum. Ramaswamy was assigned the job of courier, as he had a
thorough knowledge of the winding passes of the Nallamala forests. (Legend has
it that he could even traverse those passes blindfolded.) He carried out the job
quite successfully. He guided a couple of senior comrades from the neighbouring
struggle areas to the plenum site and handing over the letters to his
counterparts, appearing and disappearing as from thin air.
The plenum was to
receive an important consignment and had to send appointment letters regarding
the vist of two top State committee leaders. But the problem was, couriers who
were supposed to fetch the consignment could not suggest a route, avoiding the
nearby town where a huge posse of police personnel had been deployed.
Ramaswamy rose to the
occasion and told the leadership he had a secret route up his sleeve. He set off
on the job knowing full well that the police presence was more on that
particular day — the party had called for a bandh in the Rayalaseema region that
day.
Moreover, the police
were on the look out for Ramaswamy, who was quite popular with the Chenchus in
the region, a ‘hard nut’ to crack. The organisational work carried out by him
had already attracted the watchful eyes of the enemy. Ramaswamy managed to give
the police a slip at a couple of points but was caught at a point not very far
from the place where he was to meet his counterpart. The police used all the
means to make Ramaswamy disclose the whereabouts of the leaders (The enemy had
no clue about the meeting.) They tortured him but all their attempts proved
futile. Ramaswamy didn’t utter a word. Nor did he tell them whom he was going to
meet a while later.
The comrade who was
to meet Ramaswamy returned home, without accomplishing the task and wondering
what might have happened at the other end? On his way back, he did notice the
unusually huge presence of police, making his heart miss a beat.
Ramaswamy could have
done a Govinda Reddy to save his skin. But the true son of the revolution was
not to betray his comrades and the movement. He knew how important was the lives
of those who had sent him on the job. That there was no trace of a policeman
around 30-km radius of the plenum site spoke volumes about the sacrifice made by
Ramaswamy. The plenum paid revolutionary tributes to Comrade Ramaswamy. The
comrades working in the area recollected Ramaswamy’s abilities and contributions
made by him, which helped the party make further inroads into Nallamala.
His fellow comrades
found in Ramaswamy’s kit a letter written by his brother. His brother wrote to
him how happy he was on hearing the news that he would be taking over the
in-charge of an LGS.
Ramaswamy proved his father wrong by
becoming a true, sincere comrade. He proved the enemy wrong by sacrificing his
life to show that a party built on people’s trust and hopes is impregnable. And
he lived up to the imaginations of revolution by setting a shining example of
bravery and commitment.
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