Bengaluru:As many as six Naxals, who were active in the forests of Malnad and coastal regions of Karnataka, surrendered before Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Wednesday evening.
This marks the end of the Naxal movement in Karnataka, declared Siddaramaiah after welcoming Naxals to join the mainstream at his official residence Krishna. He gave each one of them a copy of the Indian Constitution.
"The state government will provide all benefits as per the Naxal Surrender and Rehabilitation Scheme besides setting up fast-track courts for speedy trials of their cases," the Chief Minister said. "Our government has rolled out several programmes for economic and social upliftment of the poor and also for protection of their rights. The five guarantees of the Congress were rolled out with this aim," he said.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, state Home Minister G Parameshwara and family members of surrendered Naxals were present. Shivakumar announced that Karnataka has become free from the Naxal movement with the surrender of six Naxals.
The surrendered Naxals are Vanajakshi, Mandagaru Latha, Sundari, Mareppa Aroli, K Vasanth and N Jeesha. Barring Jisha and K Vasanth, who are from Kerala and Tamil Nadu respectively, the remaining four are from Raichur, Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka and they were said to be active in the Naxal movement for the past two decades.
"We decided to surrender on our own wish as we wanted to reintegrate in the mainstream. But we will continue our fight against atrocities in democratic ways," Mandaguru Latha said.