Nagpur: Kanchan Narnaware, alias Bhoomi, a double postgraduate, dreamed of an India with free, accessible education. She had taken up farmers suicides as a student activist in 2004, making her a government target. The ‘Maoist’ passed away at Sassoon Hospital in Pune on January 24, as an undertrial of Yerawada prison. She was 37.
Narnaware was among the several activists languishing in Indian jails, even with failing health, with their bail pleas rejected repeatedly. Even the United Nations (UN) has condemned India’s policy to jail activists, with the latest criticism coming in for putting Koregaon Bhima supporters behind bars.
Narnaware was the founder member and ex-president of student-driven Chandrapur-based Deshbhakti Yuva Manch, which was bracketed as a ‘frontal organization’ of the banned Maoist party by government agencies.
In Chandrapur, Narnaware and her husband Arun Bhelke, who too was arrested with her in 2014 in Pune, were part of the team which published studied oriented magazine ‘College Katta’. This gave voice to the youth community between 2004 and 2008. Narnaware was also part of a platform to champion the cause of exploited and tortured women.
In 2005, Narnaware and Bhelke had got married, despite opposition from families over the inter-caste alliance. “The marriage was a symbol of defiance against caste system and taboo against inter-caste ties. She had tied the knot publicly at Gandhi Chowk in the presence of thousands of students in 2005,” said Narnaware’s friend and colleague Anuradha Sonule, who too had been arrested for her socio-economic stand and activism.
Narnaware’s ideological stand had not gone down well with the Indian government, and she was labelled a ‘Maoist’ operative before being jailed twice in 2008 and then 2014. She was also slapped with eight cases, but had been acquitted in five.
Narnaware, daughter of a bank officer from Chandrapur, died with her bail appeal pending before the Bombay high court, after her plea was twice rejected by the sessions court in Pune, said advocate Parth Shah, who is part of the legal team of counsels Rohan Nahar and Rahul Deshmukh, who were representing Narnaware and her husband Bhelke.
Narnaware and Bhelke were arrested in September 2014 by the State Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) for their alleged role in Maoist movement in western Maharashtra for recruitment. The intelligence and police records underline the couple’s involvement in the Pune area committee, which is part of the Maoists’ Maharashtra Rajya State Committee. She had also taken up charge of Maoists’ ‘Golden corridor’ in western India after the arrest of Angela Sontakke.
As per the government records, Narnaware was also part of the Maoists’ paramedical team in the forests of Dandakaranya in Central India, where she was part of the Darekasa (Gondia) and Korchi (Gadchiroli) dalams.
Narnaware, who had undergone open heart surgery twice, had defied her health condition to take up peoples’ causes. “She was someone who could not see others in pain and hence rushed to take up their causes,” said Sonule.