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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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