The Sense Of An Ending

With the Modi government sanctioning air strikes, the battle against Maoists has entered a decisive phase. As security forces make inroads into the red bastion of Dandakaranya, the ultras are abandoning their guerrilla tactics in a bid to defend themselves. There are also allegations of serious human rights violations. THE WEEK reports from the war zone.

- Rabi Banerjee

Domru Kilo lives in a shack at Ramguda village in Odisha’s Malkangiri district, which borders Chhattisgarh to the north and Andhra Pradesh to the south. In his early thirties, Domru has never been a beneficiary of any government scheme, nor have politicians come to his village seeking his vote. In fact, he grew up without knowing much about what lay beyond the lush green mountains and the Balimela reservoir that border Ramguda.

His seemingly idyllic village, however, is part of the Dandakaranya muktanchal, the “free zone” of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). With their firearms and other, cruder, weapons, the Maoists rule by diktat here. Their grip over the region is so firm that Domru had never seen a policeman enter his village, not until the horror on the midnight of October 23 and 24.

That night, about 100 metres from Domru’s house, top leaders of the CPI (Maoist) were holding a meeting. Farther away were their gunmen, preparing dinner for the group. Out of nowhere came two helicopters, which began firing down on them. The Maoists were taken by surprise, and trapped. On ground, they were surrounded by the elite Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh and the Special Operation Group of Odisha. “Bullets flew, and two choppers landed on the banks of the reservoir,” recalled Domru. “More than two dozen security personnel got down and surrounded the village.”

Witnesses said there were around 40 security personnel on the ground and about 50 on the choppers. “But the men of our party (Maoists) outnumbered the security forces,” said Domru. “Many leaders managed to escape. But I had never seen so many deaths in our area before this attack.”

More than 30 leaders and commanders of the CPI (Maoist), including seven members of its women squad, were killed in the attack. Security forces estimate that nearly 150 Maoists had assembled in the village.