New Delhi. A group of victims of such violence will meet President Draupadi Murmu and Union Home Minister Amit Shah this week to demand that Chhattisgarh’s Bastar be freed from the Naxal problem. This group of about 50 victims reached Delhi on Tuesday under the banner of Bastar Shanti Samiti. The committee said that these victims will meet the President on September 19 and possibly Shah on September 21 to put forward their demands.
According to a press release issued by the committee, apart from this, they will protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, organise a press conference in Delhi and will also participate in programmes at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
According to the release, through these programmes the victims want to tell the country how the Maoists have made their lives hell.
It said, “Saying ‘Kenja Naxalite – Manva Mata’ (Listen Naxalite – our voice), these victims will raise their voice in Delhi and demand that Bastar be freed from Maoism-Naxalism.” The committee said that the sting of Maoism that Bastar has been suffering for the past four decades has now become a cancer and its treatment is necessary as soon as possible.
He said, “This Maoism-Naxalism not only ruined generations of Bastar but also almost stopped the pace of development of Bastar. Due to Maoist terror, the past, future and present of the youth of Bastar remained in the shadow of terror, while Bastar also started being identified as red terror and blood-soaked land.” According to the committee, in the last two and a half decades, Maoists have killed more than 8,000 villagers in Bastar region and thousands of people became disabled in Naxalite violence.
The committee said, “For these reasons, the people of Bastar have reached Delhi to plead for justice. The people of Bastar want the country to understand their sorrow, pain and suffering, find a solution to it and let the people of Bastar breathe the air of freedom, not of a pile of gunpowder.” The committee said that during its proposed meetings and programs in Delhi, it will raise the demand that just like all the citizens live their lives freely in other parts of the country, they should also get the opportunity to live their lives freely in Bastar.
Before reaching Delhi, these Naxal victims had met Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma.