<p>Coronavirus may have claimed scores of lives in Bihar, but it has also helped a few Naxalites, owing allegiance to the banned outfit CPI (Maoist), give up arms.</p>.<p>The deadly virus has forced one such Maoist, Naresh Das, to give up arms. Das, a resident of Chautha village in Bihar’s Nawada district, now drives an auto-rickshaw.</p>.<p>“<em>Corona ne sikha diya hai ki zindagi ka koi bharosa nahi. Jungle mein marr jayenge. Aur saara paisa waise hee pada reh jayega. Issliye ab hum auto driver ban gaye hain (</em>Coronavirus has taught an important lesson that life is quite uncertain. I could have died in this jungle of Bihar’s Nawada district, which shares border with Koderma in Jharkhand, without anyone looking for me. The entire money, which we collect in the form of levy, will go down the drain if we die of coronavirus some day in the dense forest. Therefore, I decided to give up arms and become an auto driver),” Naresh, the former sub-commander of eastern part of Gaya Zone, told a vernacular daily.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/infected-with-covid-19-you-can-take-vaccine-three-months-after-recovery-987564.html" target="_blank"><strong>Read | Infected with Covid-19? You can take vaccine three months after recovery</strong></a></p>.<p>A graduate in Arts, Naresh took up arms after witnessing poverty and inequality in his village. “Last year, when Covid struck and claimed many lives, I realised what is the point of killing people when so many of them are already dying due to the deadly virus. It was then that I decided to go a complete metamorphosis,” averred Naresh.</p>.<p>The former Maoist eventually purchased an auto-rickshaw under the Mukhyamantri Gram Parivahan Yojna (Chief Minister Rural Transport Scheme). “I am happy being an auto driver. I have also decided that, henceforth, no one from my family, not even my children, will ever become Maoist, come what may,” he said.</p>
<p>Coronavirus may have claimed scores of lives in Bihar, but it has also helped a few Naxalites, owing allegiance to the banned outfit CPI (Maoist), give up arms.</p>.<p>The deadly virus has forced one such Maoist, Naresh Das, to give up arms. Das, a resident of Chautha village in Bihar’s Nawada district, now drives an auto-rickshaw.</p>.<p>“<em>Corona ne sikha diya hai ki zindagi ka koi bharosa nahi. Jungle mein marr jayenge. Aur saara paisa waise hee pada reh jayega. Issliye ab hum auto driver ban gaye hain (</em>Coronavirus has taught an important lesson that life is quite uncertain. I could have died in this jungle of Bihar’s Nawada district, which shares border with Koderma in Jharkhand, without anyone looking for me. The entire money, which we collect in the form of levy, will go down the drain if we die of coronavirus some day in the dense forest. Therefore, I decided to give up arms and become an auto driver),” Naresh, the former sub-commander of eastern part of Gaya Zone, told a vernacular daily.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/infected-with-covid-19-you-can-take-vaccine-three-months-after-recovery-987564.html" target="_blank"><strong>Read | Infected with Covid-19? You can take vaccine three months after recovery</strong></a></p>.<p>A graduate in Arts, Naresh took up arms after witnessing poverty and inequality in his village. “Last year, when Covid struck and claimed many lives, I realised what is the point of killing people when so many of them are already dying due to the deadly virus. It was then that I decided to go a complete metamorphosis,” averred Naresh.</p>.<p>The former Maoist eventually purchased an auto-rickshaw under the Mukhyamantri Gram Parivahan Yojna (Chief Minister Rural Transport Scheme). “I am happy being an auto driver. I have also decided that, henceforth, no one from my family, not even my children, will ever become Maoist, come what may,” he said.</p>
