KUNDAPUR : It has come to light of late that the three Naxals recently arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Police in Bangalore, included Lakshmi Poojarti of Irkigadde near Tombattu in Amasebail. It is learnt she had joined the Naxals in March 2006 after she abandoned home.
Lakshmi, the fifth of the six children of Punju Poojari-Abbakka alias Paddakka couple of Irkigadde is now Comrade Gangamma. Her family lived under abject poverty conditions by doing coolie works. Lakshmi who was tired of the pathetic state of her family wanted to put an end to the same. Her education came to an abrupt end when she was in class VII. Since then she was in the lead in several agitations against the social problems of their region. She even won much popularity after she led an anti-liquor sale prevention movement in her village. When she was seriously thinking of finding solution to the problems which her family and several other families like hers faced due to continuous oppression by the upper castes, she was attracted towards the Maoist Naxal ideologies and eventually plunged into the Naxal movement deeply influenced by the Naxal leader Saket Rajan. Though as many as 25 young women from Someshwara, Amasebail, Madamakki and other places too had joined the Naxal group along with her, one of them had however returned home.
The hands that did menial works soon took to guns and Lakshmi became an active member of the Varahi group of the Naxals. Though it is said that Lakshmi alias Comrade Gangamma even married a certain Sanjeeva, there is no clear-cut information in this regard. While some locals say she had not visited home since she first left, there are others who argue that they had seen her visit her family in a hush hush manner at least four to five times.
It is learnt she was even associated with a few of the Naxals namely Hemmige Chennamma, Sarala, Mahesh,Suresh Naik, Vishwanath, Kanyakumari, Vikram Gowda and Vasanth who were arresed at a shop at Amasebail some time back.
Now with reports of Lakshmi’s arrest coming in, the rumours that several women in rural areas who have gone missing might have joined the Naxal group, seems to be a reality to some extent.
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