Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], September 1 : Members of the Bastar Shanti Samiti have appealed to all the Parliamentarians not to support the INDIA bloc Vice Presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge, in the upcoming elections, over the verdict he pronounced in 2011, disbanding the 'Salwa Judum' movement in the region.
Members said that the verdict, which B. Sudhershan Reddy co-authored with Justice SS Nijjar, pushed the Bastar region into a dark era, resulting in an increase in the incidents of Naxal violence.
"Fed up with the violence of Naxalism in Bastar, the people there started a movement called 'Salwa Judum'. It was so powerful that the Naxalites were forced to back off. Then in 2011, some Naxal supporters in Delhi approached the Supreme Court. B Sudarshan Reddy was the Judge then, and he gave the verdict which stopped 'Salwa Judum'. It was not just a verdict but a dark era for the people of Bastar," Kawade told ANI.
"Bastan Shanti Samiti has only one demand, and we have requested MPs also through a letter, that they should not support such a person who decided to make Bastar bleed," he added.
The ruling was delivered while the BJP, under chief minister Raman Singh, was in power in Chhattisgarh.
Justice Reddy's ruling stated that the Salwa Judum was an "abdication of constitutional responsibilities of the State to provide appropriate security to citizens by having an appropriately trained professional police force of sufficient numbers and properly equipped on a permanent basis".
Another victim of the naxal violence from Bastar, Kedarnath Kashyap, recalled the tragic loss of his brother, "The tribal people of Bastar sought to solve the problem of Naxalism through the 'Salwa Judum' movement in the 2000s. In 2011, the then-Supreme Court judge B. Sudarshan Reddy called that movement baseless, and some advocates presented such an argument that he issued an order to abolish the movement."
"After that, such an Naxal incident happened with us on 12 March 2014, in which my brother and I were shot in an open market. When my brother did not die even after being shot, his throat was slit. I was also shot, due to which I have difficulty walking even today," he added.
Ahead of the Vice Presidential elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has targeted the INDIA bloc for nominating alleged "left-wing" sympathiser Retired Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy, saying that the latter's judgment on Salwa Judum was the sole reason that Left Wing Extremism, which was on its deathbed, managed to survive for over two decades.
In an interview with ANI, Shah also took aim at Rahul Gandhi and demanded that the Congress leader should give an explanation for the Opposition alliance deciding to pick a nominee who "sympathised with left-wing ideology" and whose ruling that "disbanded" the "armed civilian vigilante group" prevented the eradication of Naxals before 2020.
"Schools that were destroyed due to Naxals, the CRPF and security forces were deployed there. They were ousted within the night with the help of the order. Security forces were attacked in many places. More than Sudershan Reddy, Rahul Gandhi must answer on this, as this is the reason he (Reddy) has been picked - the left-wing ideology. Due to this judgment, the Naxals have been protected," he said.
Shah said the Salwa Judum was formed by Adivasis who wanted education, roads and healthcare. "It was meant to protect them, which the Supreme Court disbanded," the Union Minister said.
The Union Home Minister argued that by disbanding the vigilante group, Reddy had ended "self-defence" for Adivasis at a time when Naxalism was "gasping for breath."
Reddy, who served as Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court before being elevated to the Supreme Court in 2007, retired in July 2011. He filed his nomination on August 21 and will face NDA nominee CP Radhakrishnan in the September 9 Vice Presidential election.