(S.Ravi Seshu)
As we celebrate India’s 70th Independence Day with gaiety, pomp and patriotic fervour, a sensational encounter death of the most wanted criminal Nayeemuddin alias Nayeem, Maoist-turned-Mafia don, has exposed the shallowness of the system and the horrible other side of our democracy. The democracy’s so-called four pillars as well as the fifth one, i.e. Civil Society, bitterly failed to rein in a two-decade-long mayhem that took place right under everybody’s nose. Starting from a small town in Bhongir in Nalgonda district, the megalomaniac’s underworld empire spread over six to seven states with the blessings of many and silence of all of us. Let us go pillar by pillar for an introspection and self-correction to mark the Independence Day.
1) Legislature turns a Nelson’s eye:
Inept Indian Police Service (IPS) officers created Nayeem shamelessly and many politicians and elected representatives of all parties allegedly used him for their personal and political purposes. Strong votaries of democracy and voice of dissent in the Assembly and Parliament took the IPS’ right to kill Maoists and civil rights activists granted and preferred to turn a Nelson’s eye. The epicenter of Telangana peasants armed struggle, Nalgonda is known for the Communist movement and popular leaders like Survaram Sudkhar Reddy, Nomula Narasimhaiah and Mothkupalli Narasimhulu from this district can’t be intimidated by anyone. But they too reportedly turned the other way when it came to Nayeem’s atrocities. It is an open secret that all members of Bhongir Municipality are Nayeem’s men and many TRS leaders carried out his orders scrupulously. The decision to bump him off was taken as the powers-that-be felt the heat of him only recently.
Nayeem’s ability to impress upon the rulers of three parties (Telugu Desam, Congress and Telangana Rastra Samithi) the need of his existence is something shocking. Police bosses during Chandrababu’s regime should take the blame for creating the frankenstein’s monster to fight out Maoists. Continuing the inhuman tradition, YS Rajasekhar Reddy and Kiran Kumar Reddy governments of Congress gave a long rope to Nayeem apparently at the request of the Special Investigation Branch (SIB). But it is still surprising how come KCR government didn’t neutralize him even after the brutal murders of ex-Maoist brothers–Konapuri Ramulu and Sambasivudu–who joined TRS, as soon as it came to power.
“I know that Nayeem will kill me one day. I came out of the dalam to lead a normal life but I found that it is impossible for me. Neither can I work for him nor can I go back to forest. I am facing the hell soon after my surrender,” a journalist who helped Konarpuri Ramulu to surrender quoted him as saying. Alas, his predication came true after four years!
2) Executive takes a shortcut:
Police officers and bureaucrats, especially from Nalgonda district, know about Nayeem’s activities from the day-1. Many ground level police officers too enjoyed his friendship but everyone tried to take a shortcut route. Instead of going by the law, they heavily depended on Nayeem’s gang to nail down Maoists and other criminals. Nayeem did their job and simultaneously strengthened his base in an alarming way. It made the executive job easy and it was found to be a smart way to earn money and fame in the department.
As political bosses are not matured enough to foresee Nayeem’s growth, police officers helped him to run his fiefdom at the cost of ordinary citizens. In this backdrop, it is wise to prosecute all IAS, IPS officers and Revenue Divisional level officers worked in Nalgonda in the last two decades to unearth the facts of the case. Many skeletons will tumble out of the closets if it is so.
The Nayeem-friendly top cops should now think about the helpless victims of the dreaded criminal in land deals, killing of ordinary people and his alleged atrocities against children and women. Definitely, their conscience, if they have one, would trouble them for their life time.
3) Judiciary overlooks:
Judiciary, the holy cow in Indian democracy, can’t escape from its obligation. Nayeem escaped from police custody for a record number of eleven times. Once he came out of the court room in Nalgonda as a procession with his followers. What prevented the courts to take up the matter of this magnitude suo moto to rein in him? is also a million dollar question to be probed.
4) Media pisses in pants:
Media is the biggest villain in the entire episode. No journalist or investigative reporter dared to follow up Nayeem’s devilish activities though they had tip-offs from time to time. No upcountry news channel, either Times Now or ND-TV, ran stories on him in the last two decades. Is it not the failure of the news houses? Journalists, most of them part-timers, got benefits from him by sharing some sensitive information with him. It is not surprising to know that four leader of journalist unions figured in the list of beneficiaries in Nayeem’s diary.
“All of a sudden media became fearless. Just create a rumour that the deceased is not Nayeem but his dupe. For sure, our media friends immediately will stop writing against him. Nayeem could create such kind of fear among journalists,” a rights activist rightly pointed out. Knowing fully well the power of the media, Nayeem tried to launch a television channel by name i10 with the help of an ambitious journalist from Miryalaguda.
5) Civil society shivers with fear:
A generation of human rights activists, the fearless voice of the oppressed, were eliminated by Nayeem with the blessings of police bosses. Some leaders had raised their voice of concern about this kind of state-sponsored terrorism but Nayeem’s methods of tyranny silenced them for good. No leader of human rights groups of revolutionary writers, including the great names such as Varavara Rao or for that matter Gaddar, put pressure on Governments to nab the renegade. They didn’t have the guts to utter Nayeem’s name fearing a backlash from his notorious gang. A couple of senior activists of a Human Rights group were kidnapped and tortured by Nayeem but those who are supposed to be the fearless fighters remained mum later. These activists always made indirect reference to Nayeem only to indicate that they care for their precious lives than the cause they pledged to fight for.
When a group of human rights activists took cudgels on behalf of Lambada tribals against Uranium project in Nalgonda district, Nayeem directly swung into action on behalf of the government and threatened them to withdraw from the protest marches. “We always felt Nayeem in the last two decades in various forms. He dealt a death blow to Human Rights movement in two Telugu States,” an activists forced to lie low by Nayeem, told Telugu360.com.
There were plethora of Joint Action Committees but none of the committees demanded action against Nayeem even at the peak of Telangana movement.
Ulterior motives of certain individuals, conspiracy of silence of intellectuals and fear for life of all of us are the three issues that helped Nayeem to grow as a monster of this magnitude.
This is the time to learn lessons from the past. We all should introspect and find out ways to avoid another Nayeem to take birth.
“The silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of the bad people.”
May we always recollect these golden words of Martin Luther King Jr.
(Note: The author of this piece is a member of the fourth pillar. He also felt the fear of Nayeem during his reporting days and hence he has his share in the blame.)