Surrendered women Maoists walk the ramp in Chhattisgarh

Nine surrendered women Maoists, who once wore green fatigues and moved through the dense forests of Bastar, walked the ramp with beaming smiles at an event here showcasing traditional handloom and Kosa silk dresses of Chhattisgarh.

The women, eight of them from Sukma and one from Bijapur, appeared at a state-level weavers’ conference on National Handloom Day on August 7.

For 22-year-old Punem Jyoti of Elmagunda village in Sukma’s Chintagufa area, the moment was something she had never imagined.

“I had never imagined that something like this would happen in my life,” said Jyoti, who surrendered in Hyderabad in December last year.

Speaking in a mix of Hindi and the local Gondi dialect, she said her life has changed significantly after leaving the Maoist movement.

Another 28-year-old former Naxalite said she had never seen a fashion show during her life in the forests.

“We had never seen such things in the jungle,” she said with a laugh.

Wishing anonymity, the woman, who surrendered in Hyderabad in April, said she knew a thing or two about performing before an audience because of the Maoists' cultural wing.

“We had seen women performing in the cultural wing. That helped us learn some of the nuances of ramp walking,” she said.

“We are happy that after quitting violence, we are living a peaceful and respectful life,” she added.

Of the nine women, seven surrendered in Hyderabad in neighbouring Telangana, while one each surrendered in Sukma (Chhattisgarh) and Mulugu in Telangana over the last one-and-a-half years.

All of them are currently undergoing rehabilitation at the Punarwas Kendra in Sukma, a government official said.

These women received seven days of specialised training from professional experts from Mumbai in ramp walking, grooming, attire and speaking confidently on the microphone, he said.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, who was present at the event, interacted with the women.

The state government has been providing skill development opportunities to surrendered cadres as part of its rehabilitation efforts, with the aim of helping them secure dignified livelihoods and become economically self-reliant, the official said.