GADCHIROLI: Vilas Kolha, the former commander-in-chief of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) who surrendered before Gadchiroli police last week, sees an uncertain future for the armed rebel movement. “It has suffered unprecedented setback in Maharashtra,” he told TOI.
Kolha, who has 147 offences against him including 22 murders and several encounters with police, says due to police presence it is no longer easy to camp in forests for more than a few hours and organize meetings in villages. “The party seniors goad us to regroup the dalams, revive the village base by getting close to people and execute some reverses on the police but now it’s a tough ask,” he says.
Youngsters are no longer “coming to us”, according to Kolha, now 44 years old. “Unlike in the past, there is no support from villagers as police are winning them over some or the other way,” he says.
Kolha became the first cadre of any rank from Maharashtra to have surrendered with an AK 47 and ammunitions. He spent 10 days in the forests, many times without food and sleep, before reaching the police. After fleeing a camp at Abhujmadh with an AK 47, Kolha said he had to hide the weapon in a nullah to avoid getting caught or killed by both Maoists and police.
“I still dream of being in forest camps with my men and weapons. I then wake up abruptly and start trying to grab my AK-47, only to realize that I have surrendered,” says Kolha.
Kolha joined the Maoists in 2000 after his mother was labelled a witch following which the family faced social ostracization. According to him, the original Maoist idea was to strengthen the mass base in forest and then head towards urban areas. “We had managed to put some organizations and cadres in cities too but most got arrested. Don’t know what will be the future from here on,” he says.
According to him, around 200 of them were carrying the movement ahead in Gadchiroli. The number got depleted when 40 got killed in one go in the Kasnasur-Boriya twin encounters in April 2018.
“Camping on the riverbank (Indravati river dividing Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh) was suicidal. We did not keep any escape route and so when the attack took place (from security forces), our cadres had no option but to jump in the river and die after getting surrounded,” he says adding that Maoists analyse each and every encounter or incident, irrespective of the consequences, to evolve best practices.
“There were none to marshal the force after senior leaders like Sainath and Shreenu (divisional committee members or DVCM) were hit,” he says.
The former dreaded Maoist, however, chose not to speak on the questionable encounter of DVCM Nandu and five others in Boriya on April 23, 2018, on the following day of Kasnasur fire exchange where 34 cadres were killed.
Kolha was part of the team that orchestrated the Jambhulkheda blast. He clarified that it was neither revenge for Bhaskar’s wife Ramko’s (neutralized in questionable manner with her aide Shilpa at Gundurvahi in 2019) nor Kasnasur-Boriya encounters.
He admits that the Kasnasur-Boriya encounters further shook up the already quivering mass base of Maoists in Gadchiroli. “The Jambhulkheda blast, in which 15 jawans died, happened last year after seniors started goading us to counter police to boost the movement’s morale,” he says.
“We had to do something. Our team was more alert than the cops. We recovered two AK 47s and couple of SLRs from the site, rest were blown up,” adds Kolha.
He stresses that Maoists get their supply of arms and weapons from the raids and operations against police and other forces, and nothing is procured. “We are told to use the ammunitions cautiously and not to waste them. The seniors question us if there is wastage,” says Kolha. He was trained using AKs, SLR and other weapons in the forest of Maoist headquarters of Abhujmadh.
Kolha now wants to shift his wife from his native Vikaspalli to police headquarters where he is living under armed security protection. “After marriage, I left her in the house to join the dalam. She would always question me due to her loneliness and I would console her. Now, I will try to convince her to be at my side,” said Kolha who dreams to start a family despite knowing his life is under high risk and death can come even with a slightest of mistake.
Kolha, who has 147 offences against him including 22 murders and several encounters with police, says due to police presence it is no longer easy to camp in forests for more than a few hours and organize meetings in villages. “The party seniors goad us to regroup the dalams, revive the village base by getting close to people and execute some reverses on the police but now it’s a tough ask,” he says.
Youngsters are no longer “coming to us”, according to Kolha, now 44 years old. “Unlike in the past, there is no support from villagers as police are winning them over some or the other way,” he says.
Kolha became the first cadre of any rank from Maharashtra to have surrendered with an AK 47 and ammunitions. He spent 10 days in the forests, many times without food and sleep, before reaching the police. After fleeing a camp at Abhujmadh with an AK 47, Kolha said he had to hide the weapon in a nullah to avoid getting caught or killed by both Maoists and police.
“I still dream of being in forest camps with my men and weapons. I then wake up abruptly and start trying to grab my AK-47, only to realize that I have surrendered,” says Kolha.
Kolha joined the Maoists in 2000 after his mother was labelled a witch following which the family faced social ostracization. According to him, the original Maoist idea was to strengthen the mass base in forest and then head towards urban areas. “We had managed to put some organizations and cadres in cities too but most got arrested. Don’t know what will be the future from here on,” he says.
According to him, around 200 of them were carrying the movement ahead in Gadchiroli. The number got depleted when 40 got killed in one go in the Kasnasur-Boriya twin encounters in April 2018.
“Camping on the riverbank (Indravati river dividing Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh) was suicidal. We did not keep any escape route and so when the attack took place (from security forces), our cadres had no option but to jump in the river and die after getting surrounded,” he says adding that Maoists analyse each and every encounter or incident, irrespective of the consequences, to evolve best practices.
“There were none to marshal the force after senior leaders like Sainath and Shreenu (divisional committee members or DVCM) were hit,” he says.
The former dreaded Maoist, however, chose not to speak on the questionable encounter of DVCM Nandu and five others in Boriya on April 23, 2018, on the following day of Kasnasur fire exchange where 34 cadres were killed.
Kolha was part of the team that orchestrated the Jambhulkheda blast. He clarified that it was neither revenge for Bhaskar’s wife Ramko’s (neutralized in questionable manner with her aide Shilpa at Gundurvahi in 2019) nor Kasnasur-Boriya encounters.
He admits that the Kasnasur-Boriya encounters further shook up the already quivering mass base of Maoists in Gadchiroli. “The Jambhulkheda blast, in which 15 jawans died, happened last year after seniors started goading us to counter police to boost the movement’s morale,” he says.
“We had to do something. Our team was more alert than the cops. We recovered two AK 47s and couple of SLRs from the site, rest were blown up,” adds Kolha.
He stresses that Maoists get their supply of arms and weapons from the raids and operations against police and other forces, and nothing is procured. “We are told to use the ammunitions cautiously and not to waste them. The seniors question us if there is wastage,” says Kolha. He was trained using AKs, SLR and other weapons in the forest of Maoist headquarters of Abhujmadh.
Kolha now wants to shift his wife from his native Vikaspalli to police headquarters where he is living under armed security protection. “After marriage, I left her in the house to join the dalam. She would always question me due to her loneliness and I would console her. Now, I will try to convince her to be at my side,” said Kolha who dreams to start a family despite knowing his life is under high risk and death can come even with a slightest of mistake.
Trending Topics
LATEST VIDEOS
More from TOI
Navbharat Times
Featured Today in Travel
Get the app