Remembering the Maoist leader Anuradha Ghandy

She was born into privilege and could easily have chosen the easy life. But Anuradha Ghandy chose guns over roses to fight for the dispossessed.
BY Rahul Pandita EMAIL AUTHOR(S)

Kumud Shanbag at her Mumbai flat, with a picture of Anuradha on her wedding day (Photo: RITESH UTTAMCHANDANI)

On a muggy April evening in 2008, somewhere in Mumbai, a doctor was trying desperately to get in touch with his patient. The patient happened to be a woman in her early 50s, who had come that morning with high fever. The doctor had advised a few blood tests, and, as he saw the reports, he started making frantic calls to the phone number the patient had scribbled in her nearly illegible handwriting. The number, he soon realised, did not exist. He was restless. The reports indicated the presence of two deadly strains of malaria in the woman’s bloodstream—she had to be admitted to a hospital without delay. Time was racing by and there was no trace of her.

A female Naxal leader addressing a public meeting in Dandakaranya. Anuradha had also worked hard to create awareness about the rights of female cadres who were part of the Naxalite movement (Photo: AP)

By the time the woman contacted the doctor again, a few days had passed. The doctor wanted her placed under intensive care immediately. But it was too late.

The next morning, on April 12, Anuradha Ghandy was dead. She had suffered multiple organ failure, her immune system already weakened by systemic sclerosis, an auto-immune disease responsible for, among other things, her bad handwriting.

The news spread quickly among friends and followers of Anu, as she was fondly called. Before long news had reached Indora, a Dalit basti in Nagpur where Anu had lived for seven years. This was before her name appeared in the Home Ministry dossiers as Janaki alias Narmada alias Varsha – the only woman in the CPI(Maoist)’s Central Committee, the highest decision-making body of the Naxalites.

Kobad Ghandy abducted, illegally detained: CRPP Press release

COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS

185/3, FOURTH FLOOR, ZAKIR NAGAR, NEW DELHI-25
25/09/09
PRESS Note

(Circulated to the media persons at a press conference held at Press Club, New Delhi)

The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) after its Mulaakat with senior Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy in the Tihar jail would want to bring a few important facts, which are of vital significance for his life, before the democratic citizens of this country. Moreover, after the meeting of the lawyer Mr. Rajesh Tyagi on 24 /09/09 with Kobad Ghandy, the details of his arrest and mistreatment have come to light. Some of the important facts are as follows:

Hiding the exact date of arrest

Kobad Ghandy was abducted on the 17/09/09 at the Bhikaji Cama Place around 4 pm by the Intelligence Bureau. About 5-6 people who pulled up in a white sumo car pounced on him at the bus terminal near Bhikaji Cama where he was waiting for about 5-7 minutes. All the claims of the police that he was arrested on the 21/09/09 speaks for itself. He was kept under illegal detention for four days and interrogated torturing him for three days and three nights.

Kobad Ghandy was under medical treatment

Kobad Ghandy had visited the Sitaram Bhartia Hospital for a kidney problem. He had taken medical advice from the urologist there. Since 12/09/09 he has been going there for various tests till the date of his abduction by the intelligence officials. On 17/09/09 he had received the PSA report which showed the high possibility of prostrate cancer. He was advised to take a tablet for 14 days and return for further PSA tests and a possible biopsy. The time he was abducted by the intelligence agencies and kept under illegal detention he was having Veltam tablet as advised by the doctor.

Weapons Of Mass Desperation, An article on Anti- Maoist ops

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 39, Dated October 03, 2009

Operation Green Hunt, the offensive against Naxals, might blow up in our faces. SHOMA CHAUDHURY examines the tricky and dangerous terrain

Enemy worthy? Naxals in Abujmarh. Women suckle babies. The poverty shows Photo: AP

ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2009, India woke up to the news that the Delhi Police had captured a top Naxal ideologue, 58-year-old Kobad Ghandy – a South Bombay Parsi who had grown up in a giant sea-facing house in Worli, had gone to Doon School, and had studied for a CA in London before returning to India to work with the most destitute of Indian citizens in Maharashtra, before going underground in the 1970s. His wife Anuradha, a sociologist, went underground with him and died of cerebral malaria last year. (Malaria, particularly the lethal falciparium malaria, is a common affliction in the neglected heartland of central India.) Home Minister P Chidambaram called Ghandy the State’s “most important Naxal catch.”

On the night of September 22, Times Now had a prime time debate on the significance of Ghandy’s arrest. The aggressive rhetoric of anchor Arnab Goswami epitomised typical high urban attitudes to Naxal issues. If you happened to watch him anchor the show, several terrifying things would have become evident. Over this past year, the Home Ministry has been planning a major armed offensive against the Naxals, particularly in Chhattisgarh. According to reports, the plan involves stationing around 75,000 troops in the heartland of India — including special CRPF commandos, the ITBP and the BSF. Scattered newspaper accounts have spoken of forces being withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast; there is also talk of bringing in the feared Rashtriya Rifles — a battalion created specially for counter-insurgency work — and the purchase of bomb trucks, bomb blankets, bomb baskets, and sophisticated new weaponry. Minister Chidambaram has also said that if necessity dictates, he will bring in the special forces of the army.

Nagri carnage trial leads to CPI ML – Ranvbir Sena clash

Ranveer Sena goons training children in using fire arms in Bihar

PATNA: After a long gap the two traditional rivals – the CPI(ML) and Ranvbir Sena (the outlawed private army of landlords) have once again
clashed on their home turf – Bhojpur. Nagri under Charpokhri police station is a bloodstained spot where 11 Dalits and backwards were gunned down in a bazaar by Sena gunmen m in May 1998. On Tuesday night, the supporters of two rival groups clashed and gunshots were fired at Nagri.

Police said men from the upper caste demolished a raised platform at the village where Dalits used to squat. The ML supporters retaliated and attacked Sena supporters. According to locals, the situation at the village is tense.

“Some shot were fired in the air and there was no casualty,” ADG (HQ) Neelmani TOI on Thursday. He said cases had been filed by both sides and Bhojpur SP Sunil Kumar had rushed to the village. He said four persons have been arrested in connection with the clash.

Kobad Ghandy abducted, illegally detained: Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP)

Ghandy abducted, illegally detained, alleges CRPP

Ghandy’s lawyer alleged that the accused does not know the charges on which he was arrested as he has not been given an FIR copy Sadiq Naqvi Delhi Hardnews

The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) alleged that Kobad Ghandy was abducted and illegally detained by intelligence officers.

Speaking at a press conference, secretary-general of CRPP, Prof Amit Bhattacharya said, "After the meeting of lawyer, Rajesh Tyagi, with Ghandy on September 24, 2009, the details of his arrest and ill-treatment by the police have come to light." He alleged that Ghandy was arrested on September 17, 2009 from Bhikaji Cama Place around 4 pm. Some people, who identified themselves as Intelligence officials, detained him. He alleged he was kept under illegal detention for four days and interrogated. He was also tortured, it was alleged.

Emphasising on the deteriorating health of Ghandy, Bhattacharya said he was in town for a health check-up at the Sitaram Bhartiya Hospital. He had been diagnosed with a high possibility of prostate cancer. Hardnews learnt that Ghandy had requested the chief metropolitan magistrate to provide him medical aid. He was then reportedly taken to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital for several tests. CRPP alleged that Ghandy is not even being given sorbitol, essential for cardiac patients after he was shifted to Tihar. It termed this as a conspiracy to shorten his life.

Meanwhile, Tyagi attacked the police for not providing a copy of the FIR. He said, "This is a peculiar case in the sense that the FIR has been sealed by the police. Even the accused does not know about the charges on which he has been arrested as he has not been given the copy of the FIR."

The lawyer says this is hampering the judicial process as even a bail plea cannot be filed without a copy of the FIR. When Hardnews contacted, spokesperson of the Delhi Police, he refused to comment.

The CRPP is planning to move the Delhi High Court to press the police for a copy of the FIR.

Earlier, according to the official version, Ghandy was arrested on September 21, 2009 from Bhikaji Cama Place in Delhi. He was termed as a prize catch by the Delhi Police as he is alleged to be a top ranking member of the banned CPI (Maoist). Naxal violence has killed 721 people in 2008 alone. Hard News

Narayanpatna block in Orissa’s Koraput under control of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh

Report by K.Sudhakar Patnaik; Koraput: Many people in the state are wondering how to resolve the development with the revolution in Naryanpatna and bandhugaon, where after ten years of inspiring tribals to revolt for the right of their paternal land rights. This itself forced to a team of peace coordination committee led by former legislature Taraprasad Bahinipati, District Congress Committee President Sibaprasad Patnaik and Koraput Bar Association President Nihar Ranjan Patnaik with 15 others which includes journalists to visit the said blocks on Wednesday last.

We had to face tough time checking after checking for every five kilometers distance in between Laxmipur and Naryanpatna, it was Ghenua Bahini deployed by the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) leaders. Not even a police constable was seen in between Laxmipur and Padapadar where CMAS leader Nachika Linga gave an exclusive meet under tight security of his own Ghenua Bahini with traditional arms. It looks altogether a separate government functioning at Naryanpatna. The police station at Narayanpatna virtually closed.

Army reluctant to spare special units for Maoist fight

SUJAN DUTTA

A soldier during a gun battle with militants near Srinagar on Wednesday. (AP)

New Delhi, Sept. 24: The army has expressed its reluctance to let its special forces be dragged into the Centre’s anti-Maoist offensive after Union home minister P. Chidambaram suggested that the units may be used.

The army’s reluctance is couched in advisories that the top brass have conveyed to the planners of the offensive.

A brigadier is attached to the anti-Naxalite cell of the Union home ministry and the army itself has been engaged in studying the Maoists.

In successive meetings of its commanders, the top brass have mapped the growth and spread of Left-wing extremists. “We do not have adequate special forces. We are in the process of expanding them,” said a senior officer at army headquarters.

All the six para-commando battalions of the army have been categorised as “special forces”.