Volume 5, No. 1, January 2004

 

Hail the Martyrdom of Comrades Parvathi and Hajima!

Rally Against Police Killings of these Young Women Guerrillas!

(We reprint this statement in full as this is the first ‘encounter’ killing in this part of the western ghats. Also our office has received a fact-finding report into the Bollottu Encounter by five intellectuals, which corroborate the essence of the statement made here. The report says that the police shot at Parvati as soon as they saw her; they could have easily have arrested Hajima, but shot her point-blank. Com. Yashoda was kept in illegal detention, though she was injured...... Editor)

 

In the early hours of 17 November 2003 a killer police unit led by the Udupi SP Murugan attacked the Netravathi Squad of our party while it rested in the house of a landless peasant in Bollottu of Idu village in Karkala taluk, Udupi district.

The squad led by its Commander, Comrade Parvathi alias Sumathi, fought its way through the encirclement with great courage. She opened fire from her rifle at the attackers, held them at bay and assisted in the escape of Comrades Vishnu and Anand. In the course, Comrade Parvathi was martyred. The bold resistance of the squad led to injuries to two police personnel and a narrow escape for the SP Murugan.

Along with her, Comrade Hajima alias Usha, who had only a month ago joined the squad, was also killed.

Comrade Yashodha who had also only some time ago joined the squad was injured. Her weapon got jammed and she could not manage to escape. She was later captured by police.

The Karnataka State Committee, the guerrilla squads of the CPI (ML) (People’s War), its party members and sympathizers pay their red salutes to the fallen martyrs.

The State Committee shares the grief of Comrade Ramesh who was a member of the State Committee at the time of his arrest in 2001 May and is now lodged in jail in Hyderabad. Comrade Parvathi was his wife.

The State Committee also shares the sorrow of the parents and family members of Comrade Parvathi and Hajima. As poor peasants and having undergone untold suffering in their lives, they are bound to understand the loftiness of the sacrifice of their daughters.

Exemplary Revolutionaries

Comrade Parvathi was born in 1976. Her parents were former bonded tenants to big landlords of Hosanagar taluk. On the construction of the Varahi dam, and following the submersion of her former village, her parents shifted to Shivpura, a small village six kilometers from Koppa. Parvathi would assist her parents in the fields of landlords even as she studied in school.

Thus from her early days Comrade Parvathi shared in silence the suffering of crores of poor peasant masses of India.

In college at Koppa Comrade Parvathi grew as a keen debator and she led a few struggles and propaganda campaigns on the demands of students and against patriarchal oppression. She was a bright student. She emerged as a student leader in 1992-93.

She left for Shimoga to do her BA. She joined Sahyadri College and took up a course in journalism. She was member of a student organisation for two years. In 1994 she joined a women’s organization and led women students, peasants and slum dwellers in struggles on their day-to-day demands. During her days in Shimoga Comrade Parvathi emerged as a mass leader of the women’s movement for social change. She partook actively in the campaign against mining in Kuduremukha and she led women and student masses in 1994 to Gangadikallu against the state and central government’s selling of the precious mineral wealth of the land to imperialists at the cost of massive ecological destruction to the Tunga and Bhadra rivers. She was a resolute campaigner and fighter against imperialist globalisation. She was a consistent revolutionary and she expressed the desire to advance with the anti-feudal anti-imperialist new democratic revolution

After Comrade Parvathi came in touch with the Party she was convinced that without the building up of a strong working class party that undertook armed struggle, the oppressed masses of India could not be liberated from their toil and suffering.

As a result in September 1999 Comrade Parvathi joined the guerrilla squad of the CPI (ML) (PW) which was operating in Raichur. She joined the armed squad at a time when it had only then suffered the loss of Comrade Bhaskar who had been killed in a fake encounter by police. During her two years with the squad, she organized the oppressed peasant masses of the area and grew more determined to spread the armed struggle against the growing attacks of the Karnataka police on the revolutionary peasant movement.

It was during her work in Raichur that she fell in love with Comrade Ramesh who had been leading the peasant movement and they got married on 31 October 2000.

Following the decision of the Karnataka State Committee to shift its work to Malnad, Comrade Parvathi displayed great enthusiasm and readily took up responsibilities as Squad Commander of the Netravathi Squad and later as Secretary of the Area Committee.

Operating basically in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, Comrade Parvathi led her squad in completing social investigation of conditions of the people in her Squad Area. She played the leading role in compiling a detailed report on the life and problems of the peasant masses of her area. She then organized the adivasi and peasant masses in struggles against the measures of the Forest Department to evict them. She undertook widespread propaganda against the schemes of imperialist funded NGOs and against Hindu communal forces in her area. She propagated the politics of armed revolution and built up secret mass organization units. She spoke to the oppressed masses of the need to conduct struggles against the big landlords, of the need for them to get organized for raising their wages and finally for the seizure of land in order to complete revolutionary agrarian reform.

             

It was in the course of this mission that she led her squad to Idu on the night of 17 November only to be betrayed by an informer who had close ties with the local landlord and police.

Com Parvathi was a talkative and friendly person. She would integrate easily with the oppressed masses. In the brief period of her work in the Netravathi Squad Area, she gained the admiration, love and respect of the oppressed masses. But as a determined communist revolutionary she also instilled fear in the hearts of the big landlords and other reactionaries.

Comrade Hajima was 25 years old when she was killed by police. She hailed from a poor peasant family in Raichur district. She was inspired by the revolutionary movement in Raichur. Later she came in touch with the party. She was a talented singer and she opted to work as a guerrilla fighter in the Netravathi Squad Area on the suggestion of the party. During her brief stay in the Netravathi Area, Comrade Hajima sang revolutionary songs and inspired the oppressed adivasi and peasant masses to fight for land and liberation. Comrade Hajima developed revolutionary political thinking in the course of her work as an activist among slum women. She was an enthusiastic and affectionate person always caring for her comrades and attending to their problems.

The Way Forward

The State Committee of the CPI (ML) (PW) announces with pride that its rank and file is composed of fine revolutionaries such as Comrade Parvathi and Hajima. These young comrades broke the chains of patriarchy that bind women to this semifeudal semicolonial system. They were fine leaders of the masses. In their death they have set us standards to emulate. By their martyrdom they leave us their dreams to fulfill. The party drapes their fragile bullet ridden bodies in the red flag of the hammer and the sickle.

The State Committee appeals to the peasant masses of Netravathi Area not to be deterred by these killings. The party will fill up the gap that has been created and will continue to lead them in the social revolution against feudal oppression and imperialist loot. It appeals to the masses of the Karavali-Malnad Perspective Area to rally in large numbers against the unprovoked police action. The advancement of the armed struggle will create hundreds of Parvathis and Hajimas from their midst.

The State Committee calls upon all the oppressed women who have known Comrades Parvathi and Hajima, it calls upon all women’s organizations and intellectuals who have associated with these comrades and it calls upon all democratic organizations and progressive people and the students of Shimoga to rally against the killing of these guerrilla leaders. There might be ideological and political differences that one may have with the politics and ideology of these martyrs, but that should not be a point to keep us silent against these brutal killings. The loss of these comrades is a loss for all the fighting masses of Karnataka.

The State Committee would at the same time like to state that the martyrdom of these comrades is a loss to the budding armed struggle in the Western Ghats. However, the party and the masses that back the party solidly have the capacity to replenish these losses. We have the cadres and leaders to continue the armed struggle and strike back at the enemy in the coming days. SP Murugan, DGP Madiyal and the Kharge-Krishna governments have proven themselves to be cold-blooded killers. The Party will act against the formation of the reactionary village defence squads that police officer Subhash Bharani has announced on this occasion. We will expose and target informers and betrayers in the days to come. We appeal to informers to decline offers from the police.

Three decades of the Naxalite movement of India has proved beyond doubt that it is unstoppable. It is unstoppable for the simple fact that it represents the interests of the crores of oppressed masses of our country. It is unstoppable because it is prepared for any sacrifice to achieve their liberation. It has the capacity to suffer losses and the ideological wisdom to convert them into victories.

Ours is a protracted people’s war. We have all the patience in the world. Ultimately we shall repay these debts. We shall draw lessons from our mistakes and follow our defeats with stunning victories. The revolution will prevail over the fascist deeds of reaction!

Madiyal and his minions have made a grave mistake.

With Revolutionary Greetings

18 November 2003

Gangadhar

For Karnataka State Committee

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (People’s War)

 

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