New Delhi, May 19: For six-year-old Indu her world came crashing down one year back at her home in Murliguda as Naxals attacked her house and killed her parents.
The insurgents suspected her father was a police informer. She now lives in a government school in the heart of south Bastar-Dantewara along with other children of her age.
“I was studying that day at my aunt’s place. I was taken home. My mother and father were killed by the Naxalites,” says Indu.
She is not the only one who has no one to call her own after the Naxalites killed her parents. About 150 children living in the school have the same story to tell – Naxalites killed their parents.
Manju, a class nine student now, lost her father. None of the children have anything to do with either the state or the Naxals. But they are caught in the crossfire and are paying the heaviest price.
“They attacked my house. They burnt our house. They killed my father and burnt my house,” says Manju.
Suresh, another such victim, was just six years old when terror struck him. “My father was killed by the Naxals during broad day light. I was in school when he was killed. My uncle sent me here after that,” he says.
It’s the same story for Suba Rao whose mother is unable to make ends meet after the Naxals killed his father and, so, sent him to the school. “My father was killed by the Naxals,” says Suba.
The kids are encouraged to play so that they can forget what happened to their families. The prayers and songs are what make them stronger. But they still carry the painful memories of how they used to sing in happier times.
—Agencies