Published: 07th August 2015
VELLORE: Residents of the district of Vellore, Tirupattur and Jolarpet and beyond gathered at the memorial in Tirupattur on Thursday to honour and pay tribute to police personnel on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the successful conclusion of Operation Ajanta that freed northern Tamil Nadu of the scourge and terror of Naxalism, rampant in the area at the time.
If north Tamil Nadu is largely free of Naxalism and the terror it invoked, it is largely because of the bravery of the police personnel involved in Operation Ajanta.
Those who gathered remembered afresh that Operation Ajanta eliminated the Naxals from Tirupattur, Jolarpet and surrounding areas in the erstwhile North Arcot district three decades ago to the day.
Operation Ajanta was so named by the then Chief Minister of Tamil nadu, MG Ramachandran, in honour of Jolarpet Inspector V Palanisamy’s six-year-old daughter Ajanta. Thirty five years ago on August 6, Palanisamy and two police constables — C Murugesan and R Yesudoss — were killed in a bomb attack by a notorious Naxalite, Sivalingam, of Jolarpet. Sivalingam’s associate Selvam was also killed when the bomb was hurled at the three policemen who were on their way to the Tirupattur taluk police station for interrogation.
Sivalingam disappeared from the police radar after the killings and was arrested only in 2009.
“The incident happened a week after I took charge as DIG of the range,” former DGP of Tamil Nadu Walter Devaram told Express on the sidelines of the 35th Commemoration Day.
“Within a year, we had uprooted the Naxalites from this part of the State and ensured they do not resurge in the future,” said Devaram and attributed a large part of the success of the operation to public support.
It may be recalled that around 100 policemen split into three to four teams and encountered 19 Naxalities — including prominent Naxals Kannamani, Rathinavel, Anbu, Irutupatchai.
“We encountered three Naxals on August 21, in the year 1981 in Naickaneri hills near Ambur and also seized Chinese made weapons from them,” added the former DGP.
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