Maoists make common cause with Khairlanji convicts

The Khairlanji killings have been one of the main planks used by the Maoists to further their ideology.....

The Khairlanji killings have been one of the main planks used by the Maoists to further their ideology. But in a strange collaboration,some alleged Maoists and an organisation comprising some of the leading lawyers defending them have made a common cause with the Khairlanji convicts.

The Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP),an organisation that also includes some lawyers defending alleged Maoists currently lodged in Nagpurs Central Prison,has given a call to observe September 13 as the Day of the Political Prisoner. Apart from calling for unconditional release of political prisoners,CRPP has called upon inmates in Indian jail to go on a token hunger strike on September 13 for demands like improvement in jail conditions and scrapping of the death penalty.

A bunch of letters written by alleged Naxalites Arun Ferreira and Ashok Reddy alias Murali along with the committees release delineating the thought behind the call also includes a letter signed,among others,by the six convicts of quadruple murders of the four members of the Dalit Bhotmange family in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district on September 29,2007.

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The killings had led to nationwide Dalit protests and the Maoists had used the incident to the hilt to buttress their social theory.

The Sunday Express has received the letters sent by CRPP containing one addressed to the Maharashtra government tagged along with those written by Ferreira and Murali that has signatures of Khairlanji convicts Prabhakar Mandalekar,Jagdish Mandalekar,Vishwanath,Ramu and Shatrughna Dhande and Sakru Binjewar.

While Ferreira and Murali demand status of political prisoners and immediate unconditional release,the Khairlanji convicts have demanded jail reforms and scrapping of death penalty. Interestingly,while Fereirra and Murali have signed the letter,only the names of Khairlanji victims have been mentioned.

Additional Director General of Police Pankaj Gupta says,It shows their desperation. It also shows that they have no ideology and they can take along anyone for their selfish gains.

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