Date:13/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/11/13/stories/2004111304070400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Red flags shatter ryot's life

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 12. An insecure future now makes him miss the present. His fellow villagers can only sympathise with him, but would not even think of helping him overcome the crisis in his life. That would mean earning the wrath of the Maoists, who pitched red flags in his land, branding him a landlord.

But Kanaka Rajam, of Chowlamaddi village in Karimnagar district, cannot understand why he is branded a landlord and red flags pitched in his three-acre piece of land. With the red flags fluttering, the standing crop of sunflower is withering away as he is scared of watering it.

Rajam, a Dalit, breaks down narrating his tale. He had worked in the Gulf for over five years and earned enough money to sink a borewell. He returned to India some three months ago and was planning to settle down in his village. It was time to relax for him and he was certainly looking for his new role as a farmer. But his hopes were dashed on Dasara day, when he found red flags pitched in his land.

Villagers scared

Adding to his concern, a couple of handwritten posters too were pasted in the village proclaiming him a landlord who occupied the land. That effectively shattered his peace of mind. With villagers too scared to oppose the Maoists' diktat, none is willing to work in his field as a casual labourer. "I cannot water the crop. I am scared to go to the field. People are not willing to work in my field. What am I supposed to do? How do I live now?" the burly man weeps inconsolably. Rajam asserts that his father bought the land two decades ago and had been in possession since then.

"I am a Dalit. I am not a landlord. How can they pitch red flags in my land. Is this the justice they are advocating for? " the helpless man goes on posing questions. Everyone in his village would nod their heads, but none can suggest a solution to his problem.

At wits' end

With the Maoist leaders remaining underground, he would not know whom to approach. He does not want to go to police as he feels his life would be in danger. "Let the naxalites come to my village and enquire about my family in a "praja court.'' It is all the work of militants who could have nursed a grouse against me," Rajam feels.