New Delhi: Life has come full circle for one former Maoist leader. Stationed at the Gadchiroli District Police Line after his surrender last year, former top Maoist leader Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu stumbled upon a new article about the state’s education department. “The news article in one of the newspapers quoted education department officials saying the government was keen on imparting education on tribal affairs to young students,” Sonu told ThePrint from Gadchiroli.
Having been idle for months since his surrender in mid-October last year, Sonu developed the idea of exploring job opportunities in the tribal education sector. Having served as spokesperson for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) for years before his surrender, Sonu was optimistic about his experience with tribal life and his ability to convey information to young students. “I did not have the degree, but I had the on-ground experience, and I thought of looking for some job,” he further said.
Belonging to Telangana’s Karimnagar district, Sonu was among the most educated and technologically competent contenders for the top post. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from SRR College and an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) diploma. He was once one of the top two contenders for the post of general secretary of the Maoist outfit after security forces killed previous general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmarh. He was first transferred to Gadchiroli as a commander in 1984.
He was soon promoted to the post of divisional committee member (DCM) in 1986, followed by his elevation to divisional committee secretary (DCS) in 1987. Years later, he was inducted into the central committee of the Maoist body, followed by his promotion to the politburo of the banned outfit during a congressional gathering in Abujmarh in 2004.
He laid down arms before Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in October last year, ending a nearly four-decade-long Maoist journey.
The idea came to fruition earlier this week when Sonu joined the Gadchiroli-based Gondwana University as a coordinator in its tribal education programme. “My mandate is to brief the students of this programme about tribal life and tribal rights,” Sonu further said.
He has been hired for three months, after which his performance will be reviewed, and his contract terms will be decided accordingly. “I have been employed as coordinator in the gram sabha sub-department and have been promised a salary of Rs 30,000 per month for the job,” Sonu said.
Recalling the sequence of events leading up to his landing the job at the university, Sonu said he wrote an application letter to Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) M. Ramesh, expressing his interest in exploring job opportunities in the tribal education department. “He was telling us his keennees to work in the field of education and he claimed to have experience of similar work in the deep villages,” Ramesh told ThePrint. “After his application, I checked with Gondwana University and they had a dedicated tribal studies department and were looking to hire people for the same. After the recommendation, he was called for a screening,” he said.
Just the following month, the SP sent him to Gondwana University with one Assistant SP-rank officer, where the vice-chancellor facilitated a discussion about his proposal to join the course in some capacity. Later, Sonu said he attended an interview with around 40 job-seekers, and he was one of the three shortlisted candidates.
“The interview took place on 14 August, and the joining letter came a few days later, and I joined the job on 1 September,” Sonu further said. However, he said he has not yet taken any class or briefing session with the students. “I joined on 1 September, and the first two days have been about introduction and interaction,” Sonu said. “One professor has died, and the college is closed today,” he further said on Thursday.
Asked how different the new assignment would be from his role with the banned outfit in his previous avatar, Sonu said there were “no practical” differences. “Even earlier we used to educate the tribals about Jal, Jangal and Jameen (water, forest and land) and I will do the same with students,” he further explained. Gadchiroli, he said, has always been a ground for the voice of tribals and their empowerment.
“We have always been protesting for the full implementation of the PESA Act, and Gadchiroli was the strongest protest on the subject in 2015,” Sonu recalled the protest by Madia-Gond tribal communities against iron-ore mining on the sacred Surjagarh Hills that broke out in the district.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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