RAIPUR: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was talking about the fulfilment of a 500-year-old dream at Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in a Bastar village on Monday, temple bells were ringing 180km away to celebrate the reopening of a Ram temple in one of the worst Maoist-hit areas of Sukma.
Security forces have reopened the temple in Kerlapenda village that was shut 21 years ago on Maoist diktat.This off-the-road hamlet is in the middle of a Maoist stronghold — barely 10km from Tadmetla, the site of the massacre of 76 jawans in 2010, and close to Hidma’s stronghold of Tekulguda, where 22 jawans were killed in April 2021.
The fear of the Maoists was such that once the insurgents ordered villagers not to visit the temple, no one dared go anywhere near it. All but one. A lone villager would quietly light a lamp outside the closed door every day, keeping the glow alive.
On Saturday, scores of locals thronged the temple, guarded by heavily armed CRPF and police personnel, as the doors were opened and sunlight streamed in for the first time in 21 years. The temple was cleaned up and the marble idols of Lord Ram, Mata Sita and Laxman were worshipped.
Yet again, what has turned the tide here is a CRPF camp set up a few days ago in between Kerlapenda and Lakhapal villages, around 10km apart within a densely forested region.
“In 2003, when Maoists were at their most active, they had ordered villagers to shut the temple and warned that no one should open it or visit for worship. The reason was that this region was the core zone of Maoists, where they would camp, hold meetings, and use it as a corridor for movement,” Sukma SP Kiran Chavan told TOI.
After the CRPF camp was opened, tribals who otherwise never interacted with outsiders, came in touch with security personnel.
Himanshu Pandey, CRPF commandant of 74 Battalion said, “The new camp was opened on March 11, and during area domination, jawans saw this temple. Locals told them that Maoists had tried to damage the temple in 2003 and forced it shut. Once, villagers would hold religious fairs at the temple. On request of tribals, we initiated the reopening of the temple and helped in cleaning it and organizing puja.”
CRPF assistant commandant from Lakhapal security camp, Ravi Kumar Meena, said that the request to reopen the temple came during a medical camp organized by the forces. A medical camp was organized in front of the temple on Monday.
Kerlapenda is around 90km from Sukma district headquarters, with the last few miles having to be covered on foot.
The district administration is now trying to trace the history of the temple. No one knows how old it is but officials believe it could be a couple of centuries old because it is made of stone. The village of 800 now plans a ‘bhandara’ on Ram Navmi.
Security forces have reopened the temple in Kerlapenda village that was shut 21 years ago on Maoist diktat.This off-the-road hamlet is in the middle of a Maoist stronghold — barely 10km from Tadmetla, the site of the massacre of 76 jawans in 2010, and close to Hidma’s stronghold of Tekulguda, where 22 jawans were killed in April 2021.
The fear of the Maoists was such that once the insurgents ordered villagers not to visit the temple, no one dared go anywhere near it. All but one. A lone villager would quietly light a lamp outside the closed door every day, keeping the glow alive.
On Saturday, scores of locals thronged the temple, guarded by heavily armed CRPF and police personnel, as the doors were opened and sunlight streamed in for the first time in 21 years. The temple was cleaned up and the marble idols of Lord Ram, Mata Sita and Laxman were worshipped.
Yet again, what has turned the tide here is a CRPF camp set up a few days ago in between Kerlapenda and Lakhapal villages, around 10km apart within a densely forested region.
“In 2003, when Maoists were at their most active, they had ordered villagers to shut the temple and warned that no one should open it or visit for worship. The reason was that this region was the core zone of Maoists, where they would camp, hold meetings, and use it as a corridor for movement,” Sukma SP Kiran Chavan told TOI.
After the CRPF camp was opened, tribals who otherwise never interacted with outsiders, came in touch with security personnel.
Himanshu Pandey, CRPF commandant of 74 Battalion said, “The new camp was opened on March 11, and during area domination, jawans saw this temple. Locals told them that Maoists had tried to damage the temple in 2003 and forced it shut. Once, villagers would hold religious fairs at the temple. On request of tribals, we initiated the reopening of the temple and helped in cleaning it and organizing puja.”
CRPF assistant commandant from Lakhapal security camp, Ravi Kumar Meena, said that the request to reopen the temple came during a medical camp organized by the forces. A medical camp was organized in front of the temple on Monday.
Kerlapenda is around 90km from Sukma district headquarters, with the last few miles having to be covered on foot.
The district administration is now trying to trace the history of the temple. No one knows how old it is but officials believe it could be a couple of centuries old because it is made of stone. The village of 800 now plans a ‘bhandara’ on Ram Navmi.