Now, surrendered guerrillas Tarakka & Giridhar lead 100 Abujmarh rebels in meditation session

Nagpur: If the call for ceasefire by the Maoist central committee was any sign of an exhausted front, then the congregation of 102 surrendered guerrillas at a meditation camp in Gadchiroli this weekend projected a trend, where aggression is giving way to inner peace.

Shortly after Maoist politburo member Bhupathi alias Sonu, a three-decade veteran in the rebel movement, issued a truce call in central India's Dandakaranya, his wife, Tarakka, a surrendered guerrilla, was spotted along with other former top cadres from Maoist heartland of Abujmarh at a four-hour long introductory camp of ‘vipassana' at Wadsa in Gadchiroli. While Tarakka surrendered earlier this year, her husband Bhupathi alias Sonu continues to remain in hiding at the tottering Maoists headquarters of Abujmarh straddling Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

Along with Tarakka, former general secretary of the Gadchiroli division of Maoists, Giridhar, was spotted with his wife, also a surrendered guerrilla, at the meditation camp, which was conducted by Dhamma Vasundhara Vipassana Samiti. Talking to TOI, a senior police officer with the anti-naxal operations, said, the meditation sessions was a transformation journey into the realm of mindfulness, away from ambush and gunfights.

Tarakka and Girdhar, the two most influential military and political leaders of the rebel movement, had engaged security forces in over 150 encounters. Giridhar with 179 offences against him, had launched around 85 attacks on police and other security parties in his three-decade stint and engineered several murders, arson with People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). Police sources stated Tarakka and Giridhar were among the several top cadres who would soon leave for a 10-day meditation camp at Nagpur in the coming days.

Gadchiroli SP Neelotpal stated the former Maoists had spontaneously shown inclination towards learning meditation in the introductory camp. "We will now create a 20-member batch and send them for a residential camp," said the SP, adding the former Maoists had a cathartic experience at the camp, which was part of their reformation and rehabilitation process. "The ex-Maoists had financially benefited from the govt's surrender policy. They now need a holistic development of their personality," said Neelotpal.