When Communists turned gods for hapless people

DHARMAPURI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA P Dilli Babu, who represents the Harur constituency in Dharmapuri, like all comrades, is an atheist. So is the Tamil Nadu Tribals Association secretary P Shanmugam. Late CPM legislator Annamalai and Rajya Sabha MP A Nallasivan also belonged to the “same tribe”. But for the people of Vachathi, they are God in the physical form.In fact, the horror of Vachathi would have been swept under the carpet had it not been for the relentless protests and campaigns of the comrades. The brutality itself came to light 13 days after it was unleashed.It was Shanmugam who first shot off a representation to the State Government seeking an inquiry. Later, Nallasivan filed a petition in the Madras High Court based on which a CBI probe was ordered in 1995.“When we entered Vachathi first, villagers  were hiding in the Sitheri hills. We waved the red flag to win their confidence and then listened to their shocking narrations,” recalls Babu, who was then the DYFI district secretary.Later, Annamalai, Babu and others met the women who were lodged in the Salem jail and made arrangements to take them out on bail.For Poongothai, who was a school-going girl when the village was ravaged, the Communists were the only saviours. “I still remember that they distributed clothes to us, as all our belongings were taken away or destroyed,” she says.