‘Dream was to change system, but nothing changed’: A Maoist on why he joined and why he surrendered

Suraj Ganjhu studied only up to Class 10, but he cleared his boards and landed himself a job as a contractual teacher in 1990. But by 1993, he was disillusioned with the way society functioned and the inequality of it all.

He felt he needed to change things, the way Mao Zedong had once done in China, through violence.
Twelve years later, in 2005, Ganjhu, who was from Lobga village in Jharkhand’s Chatra district, was done with changing society through violent means. He had risen to the post of Maoist sub-zonal commander, but his days of guerrilla warfare were over.