Surrendered Maoists vow to shun armed activities

Metro India News | Hyderabad

Senior surrendered CPI (Maoist) leader Tippiri Tirupati alias Devji has said he plans to urge Union Home Minister Amit Shah to lift the ban on the outfit to enable it to take up people's related issues. Tirupati said he and his similarly surrendered colleagues would like to work legally and openly on people's issues.

"We (surrendered Maoists) are thinking of sending an application to Amit Shah ji on issues, including lifting the ban on the party (CPI-Maoist)," he said. Tirupati and other surrendered leaders recently met Telangana DGP C V Anand and urged him to see to it that police do not impose restrictions on their movements if they organise activities such as holding "small meetings" or meeting kin of deceased Maoists.

Observing that there is a possibility of them being viewed with suspicion, he said they would not indulge in any illegal, secret, or armed activities. He said they would like to start working on people's issues at a later date as they are still in the process of meeting "old friends."

The DGP's response to their request was positive, Tirupati said. He said their planned work would not resemble a typical political party in the parliamentary form of democracy. Any platform working on people's issues is a political party, he opined. He said he and his colleagues would like to work under the banner of CPI (Maoist) if the ban is lifted as the organisation already exists.

Tirupati, a top Maoist commander and key strategist of the banned outfit, surrendered before the Telangana police in February this year after spending over four decades underground. A Central Committee member of the proscribed organisation and a member of its politburo, he had surrendered alongside fellow Central Committee member Malla Raji Reddy.

Tirupati had then said he surrendered due to health issues and vowed to continue his political career within the "legal framework".

"Due to health reasons, I have decided to give up my underground life and join the mainstream. I will continue to work on people's problems within the legal framework, guided by the philosophy I believe in," he had said. On the demand by surrendered Maoists that the Centre lift the ban on the CPI (Maoist) so they can work with people, a senior Telangana police official earlier said how the organisation could be involved if former members sought to work with people.

They can carry out their activities within the legal framework, he had said.