Hyderabad, July 05: For 30 long years, Cherukuri Karuna, mother of slain Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, waited to see her son.
But when the wait was over, all the septuagenarian was able to see was his lifeless body. She sat beside it for hours together receiving sympathisers, former Naxalites, writers, poets and journalists.
Azad was cremated this afternoon at the Punjagutta cremation grounds as the air was rent with slogans proclaiming that none could kill the man’s ideology.
The martyr’s brother and wellknown gastroenterologist Dr C Anil Kumar conducted the last rites and lit the pyre.
“Intellectuals do not sit and watch atrocities but fight back.
Azad did all he could for the downtrodden.
His passing has left a big vacuum,” said balladeer Gadar. The people should carry the struggle forward and rise against the atrocities of the State and capital, he said.
Gadar held Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Chief Minister K Rosaiah, Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Director General of Police RR Girish Kumar, the Intelligence Bureau and the Special Intelligence Bureau departments responsible for the Azad’s murder.
Former Maoist leaders Koora Devender alias Amar and Konapuram Ilaiah alias Sambasivudu recalled their association with the slain Maoist leader terming him as a down-to-earth person. “Though I left the People’s War and went on to found the Janasakthi Party, Azad remained in touch with us and respected our opinions. He took active part in facilitating peace talks with the State Government, only to meet a violent death,” Amar said.
Sambasivudu said he was fortunate to have worked for the people alongside Azad. Progressive Organisation for Women president V Sandhya decried the police brutality and noted that the death of journalist Hemachandra Pandey proved Azad was killed in a fake encounter.
Earlier, Azad’s body was kept at his brother’s house in Madhapur for visitors. It was then taken in a convoy to Road No 2 Banjara Hills and from there in procession to the Punjagutta cremation ground where friends, colleagues and Maoist sympathisers gathered and shared reminiscences of the martyr.
T hough a meeting was planned to be held at Madhapur, the police were insistent that the body be conveyed to the cremation ground before noon as President Pratibha Patil was scheduled to visit the city.
Lamented a family member: “The police are rushing us even in our grief and despair.” Recalling his association with Azad, Revolutionary Writers’ Forum president P Varavara Rao said both had spent time together in prison and Azad was active in student movements since his college days. “He (Azad) came up with wonderful poetry within minutes and was influenced by the writings of balladeer Gadar,” he recalled, and read out the message from the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) which called the encounter story a fabrication of the police who had got addicted to human blood.
The statement said Azad was killed in cold-blood and the police would have to pay the price. The Maoist Central Committee called for a Protest Week from July 8 to 14 and also Bharath Bandh on July 13 and 14 protesting the brutal encounter.
Former Praja Rajyam Party leader Dr Mitra, film artiste R Narayanamurthy, social activist Manda Krishna Madiga and many other sympathisers attended the funeral.
——-Courtesy: Express Buzz