Lone survivor of Bastar's deadliest Naxal attack fights his sixth poll

Aditi Tandon

Sukma, October 31

Five-time Konta legislator and Chhattisgarh Industry Minister Kawasi Lakhma’s writ runs large in Bastar’s Maoist belt where the 66-year-old inspires both fear and awe.

5-time mla’s writ runs large in konta

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• Chhattisgarh Industry and Excise Minister and 5-time Konta MLA Kawasi Lakhma’s writ runs large in Bastar’s Maoist belt
• Locals say he’s invincible here; even the BJP is not counting Konta (ST) among Bastar seats where it says it stands a chance

“Even Naxals don’t touch him. He is invincible here. Whatever he says happens. His is the last word in Sukma,” quips Mahendra Yadav, a local who has witnessed the steady rise of Lakhma, contesting from Konta tribal reserved seat for the sixth consecutive time on November 7.

Pitted against the BJP’s Soyam Mukka and CPI’s Manish Kunjam, Lakhma, according to Sukma residents, is in a “non-contest which he will win on account of his clout”.

Conspiracies and legends about Lakhma abound in the region, and not without a reason. On May 25, 2013, when a deadly Maoist ambush at Sukma’s Jhiram Ghati in Darbha killed stalwarts like state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, Vidya Charan Shukla, ex-MLAs Mahendra Karma and Uday Mudaliyar, Kawasi Lakhma emerged the lone survivor. It is said the Naxals took both Patel and Lakhma away into the jungle, killing former but letting the latter walk free.

Lakhma’s survival in the deadliest ever recorded naxal attack on politicians anywhere catapulted him to fame. Twenty-nine people were murdered in the ambush, including the entire top Chhattisgarh Congress brass. Police sources in Bastar say Lakhma was even questioned in the matter but a decade since the attack, no evidence emerged of his involvement in any conspiracy.

If anything, Lakhma’s clout grew, with the Congress central leadership, in 2018, even anointing the then five-term MLA as Cabinet Minister in the Bhupesh Baghel government. Party leaders even today say there was severe resistance to Lakhma’s Cabinet appointment for many reasons including his complete inability to read and write. Lakhma has never attended formal school.

“Even during the swearing-in ceremony in 2018, Kawasi Lakhma was unable to read his oath of office. He then repeated whatever Governor Anandiben Patel said,” says Shiv Sharan Mishra, a Raipur resident.