Considered first recorded Kerala encounter victim, Arikkad Varghese led peasant struggles of Wayanad

By Harsh Thakor*

February 18, 2025, marks the 55th anniversary of the death of Arikkad Varghese, who was killed in what is considered the first recorded encounter killing in Kerala. Varghese was an activist who played a significant role in the peasant struggles of Wayanad, advocating against feudal exploitation. His involvement in the Naxalite movement made him a target of state repression.

In the 1960s, Adivasi and Dalit communities in Wayanad faced severe exploitation under feudal landlords, including bonded labor and gender-based violence. During this time, ideological shifts within the communist movement in India led to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), which sought an agrarian revolution. Inspired by the Naxalbari uprising, Varghese, originally associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), aligned with the CPI-ML's armed struggle against feudal landlords and state forces.

Varghese was involved in organizing Adivasi communities against landlords and participated in armed actions, including attacks on police stations. His activities, along with those of his comrades, led to a crackdown by the authorities. Following the killing of a landlord and a suspected police informant in 1970, he went into hiding.

During Operation Steeplechase, a coordinated state effort to suppress Naxalite activities across India, Varghese was arrested after being betrayed by an informant. He was subsequently killed, with reports indicating that he was shot in custody rather than dying in an armed encounter. In 1998, police constable P. Ramachandran Nair admitted that Varghese was executed under orders from senior officers.

Varghese's death is often cited as an example of extrajudicial killings in India. His case became a reference point in discussions on state violence, particularly in the context of later operations such as Green Hunt and SAMADHAN-Prahar. While the socio-economic conditions that Varghese opposed persist in many areas, his role in Wayanad’s peasant struggles remains significant in the history of leftist movements in Kerala.

---

*Freelance journalist

The 'Dr' debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta* India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha* In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.

Counterview

Search This Blog