Home Guard and former Naxalite, Vala Ramadevi, walks ahead of TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu at Nirmal on Sunday. — DC
Bhainsa (Adilabad): Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, who survived a Naxal attack almost a decade ago, was in for a surprise on Sunday. Clearing the way for his padayatra was a former naxalite, who is now with the Home Guard.
A Telugu Desam leader said on condition of anonymity that the party had no idea of the former Naxal in the security detail.
Vala Ramadevi, in her days as a Naxalite was known as Swarnakka. She operated in the Naxal stronghold of Chennur in the 1990s and had joined the Naxals when she was only 11.
A native of Edagattu village in Kotapalli mandal, Swarnakka worked with Jangili Ganganna alias Ramanna who was the then commander of the Chennur dalam. She later married him, and the couple surrendered in 1993 and were briefly jailed.
She was resettled in the Home Guard as part of the government policy for surrendered naxals.
“Poverty forced me to join the police so that I could run my family and give a bright future to my two daughters,” said Constable Ramadevi, who is connected to the Nirmal One Town police station.
She, however, added that she had “enjoyed real freedom and liberty in the Naxal movement because there was no selfishness”. She added that she, too, had become “a little selfish” for her family and children now and had to adjust to the circumstances.
The Nirmal division police, meanwhile, has summoned surrendered Naxalites for information on ongoing extremist movements, if any, in the Nirmal and Khanapur Assembly constituencies, at the camp at Arli crossroads in Kuntala mandal where Mr Naidu stayed on Saturday night.
The security forces are taking no chances as Mr Naidu’s padayatra will be entering the forest areas in the district soon.
