Moms vigil of 33 years ends in a poignant wake

PEDDAPALLI: The last time Madhuramma saw her son was 33 years ago. So when she got to see him again in the early hours of Sunday, this time as a dead body, she could not control her emotions.As the body of slain Maoist leader Kishenji was lowered from the ambulance, she touched his forehead with affection. She sat beside the body for hours, not speaking to anyone.At the graveyard, 70-yearold Komaraiah kept a watch so that the funeral preparations are not disturbed.When a policeman asked him why he was taking so much strain at such an advanced aged, Komaraiah said: “Venkataiah (Kishenji’s father) fought for independence of the country.His son Koti (Kishenji) fought for its people. This is the least I can do.” Maoist sympathisers, revolutionary writers, singers, representatives of people’s organisations, civil liberties activists and hundreds of others turned up in strength in this town in Karimnagar district to pay their last respects to Kishenji, who was killed in an encounter with the police in West Bengal on Thursday.As Kishenji’s brother Anjaneyulu lit the pyre at the Chandapalli graveyard, Maoist sympathisers and Kishenji’s family gave him a red salute.The body was brought to Peddapalli by ambulance at around 3.15 a.m. on Sunday.Revolutionary writer Varavara Rao and Kishenji’s niece Deepa accompanied the body from West Midnapur in West Bengal to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad Saturday night. Police rushed the body to Peddapalli as though they wanted to get it over with. Varavara Rao and the bereaved family alleged that he had been brutally tortured and murdered.The huge deployment of police did not deter Kishenji’s friends. There was a slow but steady flow of people from 7 a.m. till 12 noon.With folded hands, mourners filed past the flowerbedecked coffin.One after the other, people looked at the bruised body draped in a red cloth and asked in a hushed whisper, “Is it him?” Most of them had never seen him in person. Whenever some leading personality came to pay tribute, the locals joined them in chorus to say ‘Kishenji, amar rahe’ and ‘inquilab zindabad’.About 300 policemen including those in plainclothes were deployed in different parts of Peddapalli including the entry and exit routes apart from the area around Kishenji’s house.Later, at the graveyard, Maoist sympathisers placed a red cloth on the body and raised slogans before Kishenji’s brother lit the pyre.