The killing of Naxal leader Vikram Gowda on November 18, followed by the surrender of six Naxals on January 8, has set off a political slug fest in Karnataka. The opposition BJP has questioned the “spectacle” of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah “welcoming” the left-wing extremists at his home-office in Bengaluru.
A last-minute change of plan led to the six Naxals―who were to surrender before the Chikkamagaluru deputy commissioner―embarking on a five-hour drive to Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah gave them roses and a copy of the Constitution, before declaring that Karnataka was “almost Naxal-free”. He also said that they would get a rehabilitation package, which the opposition viewed as Siddaramaiah’s “soft corner” for Naxals.
Gowda was named in around 20 cases of subversive activities in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts, had evaded arrest at least three times and was opposed to the Karnataka government’s surrender policy. He was once rumoured to have killed journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, who was part of the Citizens Initiative for Peace, a group that has been mediating between the government and the Naxals. Last year, when the Kerala government intensified combing operations, Gowda crossed over to Karnataka with seven others. When he went to collect groceries from a house in Udupi’s Hebri, the state’s Anti-Naxal Force reportedly shot him dead.
The BJP slammed Siddaramaiah for offering the surrendered Naxals a rehabilitation package and assuring legal aid to fight cases. “This is alarming to the civil society and demoralising for the police,” said BJP state general secretary Sunil Kumar, who represents Udupi, once a hotbed of Naxalism. “This surrender is a farce. This will only help the forest Naxals become urban Naxals. The Congress government has shifted from Gandhian principles to Maoist ideology. Most surrenders take months and years of negotiation. But now, within a month after the chief minister gave a call for surrender, the Naxals have done so. Is Siddaramaiah close to Naxals or Naxal sympathisers?”
The BJP was also sceptical about the CIP taking the lead in the negotiations instead of the 10-member Naxal Surrender and Rehabilitation Committee―which included civil society members Banjagere Jayaprakash, K.P. Sripal and Parvatheesh―that the state government set up on March 14, 2024.
CIP member Prof Nagaragere Ramesh said at a media briefing: “It is not a surrender, as they don’t consider their fight against injustice a mistake and would not apologise for it. They want to continue on a democratic path of struggle through civil society movements.”
BJP leaders in Karnataka have brought up this ambiguity in the word ‘surrender’, asking whether the six Naxals have actually surrendered or just changed their approach.
Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai, who had served as Udupi SP before joining politics, said, “The process is to surrender in the presence of the deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police. The chief minister’s involvement in the process and the Naxals’ weapons being recovered by the police (there were visuals of weapons in a forest, apparently left behind by the Naxals) are narratives people are finding hard to believe.”
Criticism came from unexpected quarters, too. Dinesh Amin Mattu, former media adviser to the chief minister, criticised the “hype” around the surrender when it could have been done quietly at Chikkamagaluru as per the rulebook. “It is the committee’s responsibility to facilitate the surrender before the district administration. The sanctity of the CMO should be protected. It appears the official committee has been sidelined.”
Siddaramaiah is unfazed by the attacks. “The committee (official) members informed me a few days ago that the Naxals were prepared to surrender, but on certain conditions,” he said. “I gave a media statement urging them to surrender and assured them of a rehab package and legal aid to help their transition from the forest to jail and from jail to the mainstream. They are convinced that armed struggle yields no justice but Constitutional methods do.”
He also posted on X that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had welcomed surrendered Naxals in Chhattisgarh and Devendra Fadnavis, as Maharashtra deputy chief minister, had given a rehab package of Rs25 lakh to a Naxal couple who surrendered in Gadchiroli last year.
Siddaramaiah, who comes from a socialist background, is known to be generous towards rights’ activists and progressive thinkers, which explains intellectuals rushing to campaign for him in elections or to defend him time and again, even against allegations of corruption like in the MUDA case (alleged irregularities in the allotment of compensatory sites).
However, one statement after Gowda’s encounter did surprise his comrades. “Gowda,” he said, “was a wanted criminal, and carried a reward of Rs25 lakh (Kerala government) and Rs5 lakh in Karnataka. He was given a chance to surrender. But he did not. The ANF did a good job.”
Senior police officers claim the reason for the surrenders was Gowda’s death. Without him, the others seemed lost. Further reasons include the intense combing operations in Kerala, security forces gaining an upper hand in Naxal-affected states like Chhattisgarh and Odisha, waning local support, inability to recruit youth, and the Centre and state governments’ focus on welfare schemes, infrastructure development and growing employment opportunities.
“The Naxal movement in Karnataka has fizzled out as prominent Naxal leaders are dead and many are old,” said a senior officer. “Supply network of food and weapons, and communication channels, are all disrupted.”
According to sources, the group that was with Gowda split after his encounter and was wandering the forest when the CIP reached out to them.
Now, the ‘mediation process’ is under the scanner. The official committee and the CIP members were not on the same page from the word go, said sources. The committee wanted to only “facilitate” the surrender if Naxals wanted to do so, but the CIP insisted on reaching out to Naxals in the forest for negotiations.
According to CIP members, two days after Gowda’s encounter, they met Siddaramaiah to seek his support in bringing Naxals into the mainstream through negotiations. He apparently gave them the green signal and they tried to establish contact with Naxals through villagers and progressive organisations. On December 15, the Naxals sent a message through an elderly adivasi woman expressing their willingness to talk.
“On December 18, we met and informed the [Karnataka] Intelligence Chief Hemant Nimbalkar about the positive response from the Naxals and urged the government to suspend combing operations by the ANF so that we could meet them in the forest,” said Noor Sridhar, a former Naxal who was accompanied by human rights activist Tara Rao, Nagaragere Ramesh and official committee member and lawyer Sripal to the forest for mediation. “On December 28, the chief minister gave us the go-ahead. The Naxals agreed to meet us on January 3 and we spent the whole day in negotiations. Three families agreed to give them shelter till our next meeting.”
The mediators met the official committee, discussed each point and went to the forest again to meet the Naxals on January 7. “The Naxals were surprised by the meticulous and prompt reply of the government and agreed to surrender,” said Sridhar.
The revised Naxal Surrender Policy 2024 puts surrendered Naxals into three categories―depending on factors such as which state they belong to and how many cases they have against them―and offer a rehabilitation package of Rs2 lakh to Rs7.5 lakh depending on the category. However, they have to reveal their weapon supply network and help identify other Naxals.
The six Naxals had concerns about rotting in jail and have urged the government to drop minor cases, expedite the trial by setting up a special court, hold talks with the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments about the cases, facilitate bail and order a judicial inquiry into Gowda’s killing, besides fulfilling their 18-point charter of demands concerning problems faced by oppressed communities.
Said Sripal, who has fought several Naxal-related cases: “The six surrendered Naxals have a daunting 250 cases filed against them in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We need to form dedicated teams to pursue the cases and ensure their speedy disposal, and follow up with the government to get their rehab package as they don’t have a bank account or Aadhaar card. Our priority is to get them out on bail as it makes reintegration easier. They are mostly from the Malekudiya (tribal) community and need free legal services, too.”
Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, has hinted at shutting down the ANF. The force, headquartered at Karkala, has 500 men and 17 camps across the state and is needed to patrol the Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu tri-junction to check Naxal movement in the Western Ghats. Some officers, however, have warned that while known Naxals in Karnataka might have surrendered, the threat is still active in several states.