A prominent name in UP Police, Mr. Anirudh Singh, can be rightly called a ‘Dabangg’ officer. A resident of the Jalaun district of UP, he was first posted as a sub-inspector and gradually made his way to the top tier of police service.
Apart from doing a lot of work in different fields for rural UP, the officer has also been going all out to erase Naxalism from UP. In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Singh talks about how he has been removing Naxalism and rehabilitating Naxals in his areas of posting.
REMOVING NAXALISM
Currently posted as the DSP of Sakaldiha, Chandauli, the officer was behind the taking down of the leader of Naxals, Sanjay Kol, of UP, who was not only ‘wanted’ in the state but also had a reward of Rs. 1 lakh on his head.
It so happened that back in the year 2007, when Mr. Singh was posted as a sub-inspector in the district, he got into a clash with the Naxalites of the area and gunned down the leader during an encounter and arrested several others from the gang. This incident earned him the title of ‘UP’s Encounter Specialist’.
“The woman who was married to the leader was a Naxalite herself, therefore she was also arrested along with the entire gang, and all of them were thrown behind bars. This incident opened the path for me, and I became interested in removing Naxalism from the country,” he told Indian Masterminds.
BRAINWASHED NAXALS
Mr. Singh did not wish to kill the Naxals but wanted to remove Naxalism from the state. He wanted to hate the sin, not the sinner, and therefore, he tried to understand the reason behind the behavior of Naxals and their deeds.
He understood that the main cause of their actions is the lack of education and some powerful representatives taking advantage of it to brainwash their minds into becoming Naxals.
He observed that these powerful and knowledgeable people visit jungles to talk to them and brainwash them against the working of the society and the country. They are asked to extract money from doctors, lawyers, and teachers, referred to as ‘levy’.
“They have a systematic approach to keep the police away so that they are able to do their illegal work in peace. Their entire system is formed of several teams which are deeply rooted for decades. I felt it was important to put in the effort to bring them into the mainstream, even if it only scraped the surface,” he said.
STEP TOWARDS MAINSTREAM
To keep them away from getting brainwashed, Mr. Singh offered employment through different government schemes to over 500 young girls and boys from villages. He believed that unemployment resulting in poverty is another big reason for youngsters getting involved in illegal ventures and Naxalism. Through this, he took the first step on the path toward eradicating Naxalism and bringing the rural youngsters and their families into the mainstream.
Further, he also got 21 girls married in a collective ceremony, whose families were unable to bear the expenses of a wedding, thereby earning the trust and love of the villagers.
“Even today, I am doing my best to provide employment to the unemployed and help the families in getting their daughters married. The government has a brilliant scheme of collective marriages in the state but for some reason, the families don’t avail them, thus making their daughters suffer in the process. Therefore, we will help them by employing their daughters and getting them married into good families, so as to eliminate the risk of them entering into Naxalism,” said Mr. Singh.
In this way, he has also persuaded several Naxals and potential Naxals to surrender and join the legal and positive living of mainstream society, where they have an education, a job, and a family.
Previously also, the officer had brought over 2500 people from rural villages, including the Bawaria tribe, into the mainstream by eliminating their illegal liquor business and involving them in other respectable work during his tenure in Badaun. His efforts were highly praised, and the result of his good deed was that today, the people of the village are living a life of respect and are on good terms with the police, from whom they used to run away at one point in time.
