Surrendered Naxal commander claims he recruited youths from schools, colleges

Naxalism may have receded in the forests, but the movement has been quietly spreading its roots in urban Maharashtra for years, a surrendered Naxal commander has claimed. Vikas alias Anil Ramaswamy Mekala, who headed the Naxals' MMC zone covering Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, surrendered before Maharashtra Police a few months ago. During police questioning after his surrender, he revealed several startling details. Speaking to the media, he said he lived in several cities in Maharashtra for his school and college education, and admitted that while studying in college in Mumbai, he turned many young people towards the Naxal movement.

Vikas's original name is Vinod Ramaswamy Mekala, and he hails from Chintakunta village in Telangana. Since both his parents were already linked to the armed Naxal movement, Vikas lived in the forest with the Naxals from the age of four. He spent his childhood in the company of Ganapathy, the top leader of the Naxal movement. As a child, he lived in a forest dalam with his parents. When he reached school age, the then Naxal leadership decided to send him to cities in Maharashtra for his education. Accordingly, Vikas lived in different cities across the state and completed his primary, secondary and higher education.

His primary education took place in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar area. His schooling was interrupted midway after some of the Naxals in whose hideout he was staying while studying were caught by the police. Even so, studying at times in a Zilla Parishad school and at times in a private school, he completed his education up to Class 4. His education from Class 5 to Class 10 took place at a government school in the Rajarampuri area of Kolhapur. During this period, some banners in support of Naxalism appeared in Kolhapur, and some of the people he was staying with got caught up in the police investigation, forcing him to change schools.

His education from Class 11 to second year of college took place at Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College in Mumbai. During that period, he lived in the Ghatkopar East area with some of his associates. As a young man, Vikas was given the responsibility by the Naxals of organising like-minded youths, assessing their mindset and turning them towards armed Naxalism. He admitted that he worked to gradually bring students who harboured resentment against the government into the movement. Because he succeeded in organising youths in Mumbai, the Naxals reportedly changed their constitution for perhaps the first time, lowering the minimum age for holding any post in the party from 18 to 16 years. This change was made solely because of Vikas's work in Mumbai. After amending their constitution, the Naxals gave the 16 year old Vikas a place on their Mumbai Area Committee.

Meanwhile, in 2001, Vikas's father Sayanna alias Bhaskar Ramaswamy and mother Gangalakshmi Ramaswamy, who were active in the forests, surrendered before police in Telangana. Fearing that the questioning of his parents would reveal that he was studying in Mumbai and that police would catch him, Vikas left Mumbai in 2002. After leaving Mumbai, he remained active in Nagpur for some time, he has said.