Odisha police play host as former naxalites tie the knot

State police helped in the rehabilitation of Ramdas and Kalamdei after their surrender

After a decade of living in the forests of Odisha and Chhattisgarh and exchanging fire with security forces, Ramdas, a former left wing extremist, appears to have found a new meaning in life.

On Friday, Mr. Ramdas tied the knot with Kalamdei Majhi, who also had renounced her earlier life negating democratic principles. When the two former naxalites, who had given up arms, wanted to return to the mainstream, the Odisha police were more than happy to play cupid.  

The special marriage was solemnised at the Reserve Police Ground in Bhawanipatna in the presence of senior police officers including Deputy Inspector General (South-Western Range) Rajesh Pandit, Kalahandi Superintendent of Police Saravana Vivek M. and Commandant CRPF (64th Battalion) Biblab Sarkar.

Hailing from a poor family, Mr. Ramdas joined the CPI (Maoist) in Chhattisgarh in the footsteps of his uncle, a CPI (Maoist) cadre, who is currently lodged in a jail in Maharashtra. Prior to surrendering before the Odisha police, Mr Ramdas had served as personal security officer to a top-rung Maoist leader.

“I was part of eight encounters with security forces in Bargarh and Kandhamal. But gradually I realised that I was fighting a hollow battle against the State,” said Mr. Ramdas, who was Area Committee Member of  Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN), carrying reward of ₹4 lakh.

Following his surrender, the Kalahandi police arranged for a reunion with his parents, two sisters and a brother, whom Mr. Ramdas had not met for 10 years since he joined the CPI (Maoist). Kalahandi police had facilitated first meeting with family after he surrendered in 2020.

Ms. Majhi, who hails from Kalahandi district, was with the Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagabali (BGN) division of the CPI (Maoist) for two years before she got disenchanted.