Now, tribals fear repressive times

MANGALORE: Malekudiyas, the district’s indigenous tribesmen, caught in the crossfire between naxalites and police, are fearing repressive times.The residents of 12 houses close to Manjila lying on the border of Nada and from Savanalu who remained indoors are hoping against hope that the naxalites would not brand them as informers and take vindictive action.Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) personnel had intensified their combing since July after being tipped of that Sundari alias Kanyakumari was making frequent trips to her house near Panjalu.The combing operation yielded success when ANF personnel received information about the naxalites led by Vikram Gowda and Sundari paying a visit to Manjila on Saturday. A resident of Kuthlur says the police and ANF personnel had made three visits to the forest and had stepped up pressure seeking information about the naxalites.The harassment for the natives had begun when police identified Beltangady taluk as a hotbed of Naxals a decade ago. The declaration of Kudremukh National Park (KMP) and inclusion of 11 villages in Beltangady taluk, had forced many tribal youths to believe that only an armed struggle would bring pressure on the government to restore their legitimate rights.Dinaker from Malekudiya community was the first to come into contact with Vikram Gowda before becoming a naxalite.Dinakar of Kuthloor village was the first naxalite from DK district to be killed in encounter in 2006.Later in March 2010, Vasanth Gowda from Panjalu was shot dead in an encounter with police in Mutlupady in Kundapur.Locals alleged that when the two men were shot dead, Venur police had harassed them. Malekudiyas are now sure that Saturday’s incident will take them back to the repressive times from 2006 to 2010.Sundari injured?Residents in Kuthlur believe that Sundari who was twice lucky would have been fatally injured in Saturday’s encounter with the police. Sundari alias Kanyakumari was lured into becoming a naxalite by her brother Vasanth Gowda. It is believed that Dinekar Malekudiya who had married Sundari was first felled near Sringeri. She narrowly missed being shot but lost her brother Vasanth Gowda in the subsequent encounter at Mutlapady village in Kundapur taluk. Sundari had vowed to avenge their deaths, police sources told Express.