C'garh police cuts music album to convince Naxals to shun arms

Raipur: In a novel initiative, the Chhattisgarh police is using an audio music album - comprising songs in regional languages - as its latest weapon to encourage Naxals in the Bastar division to shun violence.

The songs will achieve what the guns have failed to do so far in the Naxal hotbed of Bastar, the police hopes.

The album, titled 'Nava Bihan' (meaning 'a new morning' in the local language), composed by the Kondagaon district police, contains five songs expressing the pain of tribals living in the strife-torn zone.

The songs appeal to those involved in the outlawed movement to join the mainstream.

"Music and art play a significant role in re-establishing peace and relaying messages to the people. We are making an attempt through this music album to reach out to people, connect with them and convey our messages to bring peace and development in the area," Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Vivekanand Sinha said.

The initiative is aimed at countering the Maoists' propaganda being spread through their cultural wing, named 'Chetna Natya Manch', and making the tribal populace aware of the negative effects of violence and about the necessity of education and development, he said.

Kondagaon's Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maheshwar Nag has lent his voice to the album's three songs sung in the state's 'Chhattisgarhi' language, while local singer Ashu Madhuraj has crooned the two other numbers in the 'Halbi' dialect of Bastar.

"The songs, closely related to the life of tribals, explain how they are living under the fear of Maoists and suffering from lack of facilities," Nag said.

"The album carries the message that relatives of Naxals want them to quit violence and come back home. Besides, it expresses the grief of relatives of Naxals who were gunned down in encounters with police," he said.