New Delhi, June 8
Flanked on the one side by the Delhi police personnel and on the other by wife Damanya Devi, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) jailed Palamau MP Kameshwar Baitha had his moment of glory in the Parliament today.
All eyes were on the Naxal leader from Jharkhand the moment Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar called out his name, asking him to proceed for swearing-in, right after the unanimous election of BJP’s Karia Munda as deputy Speaker. Granted parole by the Patna High Court on June 4 to travel to the Capital and secure his right as an elected representative (MPs, to protect their membership, must take oath within 60 days of the commencement of a new session), Baitha today told The Tribune that his arrival was delayed due to unavailability of the police guard for escort.
“I would have come that very day, but police security needed to be arranged. That took time,” said Baitha, lodged at the Tihar jail until this morning when he was brought to the Parliament for oath taking.
Inside the House, the former Naxal leader appeared every bit conscious of the greatness of the occasion. He fumbled twice through his pledge and later lost his way back to the seat until Leader of the Opposition LK Advani gestured to him to go round the Speaker’s Chair and back to where he came from. Baitha, an accused in 67 criminal cases, got just five minutes in the LS, where he completed all formalities as MP --- from signing the members’ register to opening a bank account.
It was outside the House that Baitha regained his composure even though he appeared truly overwhelmed. “I can’t explain the joy I feel. This is the result of decades of hard labour, a victory of truth and my ideals. But I am very hurt that I should return to jail. I have faith in the Indian judiciary though,” he said. Coming from a Maoist, who allegedly spent 27 years leading armed struggles against the state, the statement means a lot. But Baitha made no secret of his changed political stance today. He admitted that Naxal violence had no scope in a changing India and the only way forward was through dialogue and participation.
“Like the Maoists of Nepal, those in India, too, must realise the armed movement’s growing irrelevance. There is no room for Naxalism in today’s situation. As an MP I will try to correspond to the House about the root cause of Naxalism in my state and the possible solutions,” Baitha said, adding that his wife Damanya would stand in for him, during his absence.
Very recently, the former Naxal appealed to his people to shun violence. That his word was well-taken is evident from his comfortable win in Palamau over RJD rival and then-then sitting MP Ghuranjit Singh. In the 2007 by election to the same seat, Baitha had contested on BSP ticket and lost to Singh.
But a lot -most importantly political affiliation-has changed since then. “Meri jeet mein Guruji (read JMM chief Shibu Soren) ki bahut badi kripa hai (Guruji shares the credit for my victory),” Baitha, the politician, remembered to point out, as he started back for Jharkhand. Incidentally, Soren is now the only MP among 542 who has not taken the oath of office.
