City org burns Naxal banners in Gadchiroli, pays homage to martyrs

Nagpur: City-based Jan Sangharsh Samiti (JSS), which is fighting the Maoist ideology in Naxal heartland of Gadchiroli and adjoining areas, paid tributes to security personnel killed in the IED blast at Jamburkheda on Wednesday.
Other city-based organizations, like Yuva Chetana Manch, also joined them in the protest near the blast site in the naxal-infested district. They lit 15 candles to pay homage to 15 C-60 commandos who were blown up in the deadly blast along with the driver of a private vehicle.
After paying homage to the martyrs, volunteers from both organizations visited Dadapur, where the Maoists had torched many vehicles belonging to the contractor making roads in the remote areas. They found many banners put up by Naxalites still hanging on people’s houses.
Stating that the banners represent the terror of Naxals among tribals, the JSS workers led by Datta Shirke removed the banners and burned them. They also raised slogans like ‘death to Naxalism, long live democracy’. JSS vice-president Ritesh Badwaik, Sandesh Lodhi, Prajwal Avchat, Krushnaji Gaikwad, Vedant Getme, Ashish Choudhary, Hemant Chaple, Sumeet Khadgi, Mahesh Dogi and others took part.
Addressing the volunteers, Yuva Chetana Manch president Dilip Diwte said the brave commandos sacrificed their lives for the country and youths should join the armed forces in large numbers to defeat such anti-national forces. “The youths should also visit places where soldiers sacrificed their lives. They should also pay homage to them and join the forces to show the Naxals that such killing of our brethren wouldn’t deter citizens from fighting against the ideology,” he said.
Shirke said villagers had been threatened by Naxals not to remove the banners, and the rumour spread that pressure bombs were planted under them. The JSS workers encouraged the villagers by burning the Naxal banners. Many villagers joined them in their drive.
(With inputs from Samidha Raut)