The story of Naxal Varghese, retold

English translation of a book on the leader gives readers a glimpse of the history

“Immediately someone went over to Varghese and led him to a fissure in a rock, and made him sit there. Now he was visible only up to his chest. Lakshmana ordered, ‘Shoot!’ I held the barrel close to Varghese’s chest. Only the length of the rifle separated us – almost four feet. It was a .303 rifle I had with me. The day was February 18, 1970 and the time, 6.55 p.m. As demanded earlier by Varghese, I made a sound ‘Shoo . . .’ I didn’t check whether others heard me. I pressed the barrel against his chest. As soon as he shouted, ‘Long Live Mao Unity! Victory to Revolution!’ the firing was done. Varghese fell to his right. Thus the very hand that had fed him the last morsel of rice, killed him.” That was perhaps the first encounter killing in the State. The shocking revelation of constable Ramachandran Nair that he had shot Varghese point blank on orders from his superiors at the height of the anti-Naxalite drive of early 1970s have been retold in reams and bytes. Now a recently released English translation - "Naxal Varghese: Take-Off and Tail Spin" - by Sebastian Joseph is literally taking a reader to the history of the Naxal movement in Kerala.