(Top) Nedumaran, Muthulakshmi: On an ‘apolitical’ path

Mettur (Tamil Nadu), Oct. 18: The deification of forest brigand Veerappan was unmistakable, as mellowed shouts of “Om Sri Vanniya Veerappa” rang out.

A modest crowd of relatives and sympathisers gathered around the sandalwood smuggler’s grave at Moolaikadu, about 10 km from here, on his first death anniversary.

A Bangalore-based Tamil outfit, Thani Tamzhar Senai, set the ball rolling with a floral tribute and a plaque to record their “tearful salute to the great Tamil hero, Sandalwood Veerappan”.

Muthulakshmi, the bandit’s widow who came later after police refused permission for a formal rally, broke down as she placed a floral wreath and did a small puja for about 10 minutes. Her two daughters, Vidyarani and Prabha, were not with her.

Rumours that the police might crack down on mourners should anything untoward happen also kept many villagers away.

Veerappan’s younger sister, Muniyamma, sobbed inconsolably. “When I met him last in the Sathyamangalam forests after Kannada actor Raj Kumar’s abduction more than four years ago, he told me death is certain for everyone. But I never thought he would go before me,” she wailed.

“There is nobody to care for us now, only the government should help us and they should release Veerappan’s elder brother Madhaiyan, who is still in prison.”

Some of Veerappan’s associates from his village, Gopinatham, who had been jailed first in Mysore and then Belgaum under Tada (anti-terror law) charges, turned up today. Veerappan’s elder brother is serving a life sentence in Coimbatore.

Muthulakshmi today announced the launch of Malaivaazh Makkal Urimai Iyakkam (Movement for the Rights of the Tribal People), an organisation which, she said, will seek legal remedy for those affected by special task force (STF) “atrocities” in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu when it was pursuing Veerappan. The STF had been set up to catch the brigand.

Tamil nationalist leader Pazha Nedumaran, one of the emissaries who neogitated the release of Raj Kumar, was present at the launch.

Describing the organisation as wholly “apolitical”, Muthulakshmi said over 1,000 families have suffered one way or the other because of the STF’s actions and “many women had been raped”. “We want justice done for all of them.”

Veerappan’s widow ruled out joining politics amid reports that the PMK had sent her feelers to contest from Mettur in the Assembly polls.

Even as Muthulakshmi was launching the new outfit, 10 km away in Kolathur village, a rival outfit for STF victims, Tada detainees and families affected by Veerappan’s “brutal acts” was launched by a former detainee, ‘Tada’ Thangavel. He said Muthulakshmi had floated the outfit “only to legitimise the crores of rupees of black money” stashed away by Veerappan.

He urged the state government to seize the money from Muthulakshmi and distribute it to the affected families. Her outfit, he added, should be banned as as it was “filled with extremists.”