Maoists admit to losses, 350 cadres killed last year

The admission, contained in a 22-page document dated June 23 and circulated by the party’s Central Committee, offers a rare official acknowledgment of massive losses and strategic failure from a left-wing extremist movement

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has admitted to significant losses, acknowledging that 357 of its cadres were killed in the past year and that “improper implementation” of their secretive tactics were to blame for the government having succeeded in its Operation Kagaar.

Maoists admit to losses, 350 cadres killed last year

The admission, contained in a 22-page document dated June 23 and circulated by the party’s Central Committee, offers a rare official acknowledgment of massive losses and strategic failure from a left-wing extremist movement that the government has vowed to uproot by April, 2026.

The most significant setback was the death of Nambala Kesava Rao, the general secretary of the outfit, on May 21.

Police officials confirmed the document was distributed among cadres and sympathisers following strategic discussions after the killing of Rao, who was known as Basvaraju.

The Maoist leadership attributed their setbacks to “improper implementation of secret methods of functioning, rules of guerrilla war and tactics formulated by the Central Committee.”

The internal document, seen by Hindustan Times, provides a detailed breakdown of casualties that the party itself acknowledges. Of the 357 dead, the document states 136 were women, with losses spread across their operational zones: Dandakaranya/Bastar in Chhattisgarh (281), Telangana (23), Odisha (20), Bihar-Jharkhand (14), Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-north Chhattisgarh region (8), Andhra-Odisha Special Zone (9), Western Ghats (1), and Punjab (1).

The document categorises these admitted deaths with unusual specificity: 269 in encirclement attacks, 80 in what they term “fake encounters,” four from ill health and improper treatment, and one in an accident.

The impact was spread over organisational hierarchy too: four Central Committee members including Kesava Rao, 16 state committee leaders, 23 district committee leaders, 83 area committee members, 138 party members, 17 People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) members, and six from organisational wings too were killed.

Police records, however, suggest even higher casualties than what the Maoists admit, with officials claiming 217 Maoists were killed in 2024 alone and approximately 460 by mid-2025.

The setbacks have prompted the rebels to take to a pivot, adopting what they call “flexible guerrilla war” tactics that emphasise constant mobility and avoiding direct confrontation with superior forces.

The Maoist document explicitly calls for abandoning previous approaches, referencing circulars from the Central Committee and Politburo from February and August 2004. The document states: “We must be decentralised, class struggle must be made in coordination of legal-illegal, open-secret forms of struggle and organisation.”

The document outlines new tactics using metaphors, stating: “The guerrilla war goes as per the tactics like ‘breeze’ and ‘flowing water.’” It explains that like a breeze, cadres must maintain “constant mobility instead of staying in one place,” while the flowing water approach means avoiding “decisive wars with the enemy that is many times stronger.”

The document asserts that the government’s attempts “to eliminate the revolutionary movement before March 31, 2026 should be defeated by strictly following the tactics formulated by the central committee and politburo.”

While the document claims PLGA forces “eliminated 75 enemy armed forces and injured 130 and seized few weapons in the past one year” through booby traps, IEDs and ambushes, police officials describe a very different reality.

Vivekanand Sinha, additional director general for Anti-Naxal Operations in Chhattisgarh, said: “Facing a financial crisis, they’ve been pushed onto the back foot. Their formations have weakened, and they’re now blending in with local villagers. They’ve become highly suspicious of everyone, which has unfortunately led to a rise in the killing of civilians.”

Intelligence officers report that battalions in Bastar have been broken into smaller units and pushed into inaccessible areas around Indravati National Park, with many rebels abandoning military attire to live among villagers, a person aware of the matter said, asking not to be named. Security forces estimate Maoist cadre strength in Bastar has dropped from several thousand to just a few hundred.

A senior intelligence officer said a separate Politburo circular issued approximately a month ago stated “the time was not favourable for rebellion,” instructing all cadres to go underground and break large formations into small units to avoid detection.

The shift was confirmed in an interview by Rupesh, a senior CPI (Maoist) cadre, with local journalist Vikas Tiwari, according to police officials aware of the matter. Rupesh reportedly admitted that senior leaders “have been moved to isolated areas and placed alone, disguised in rural attire, blending in with villagers to avoid detection.” Tiwari confirmed the interview to Hindustan Times.

Close to 20,000 security forces have been deployed across Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra for anti-Naxal operations, according to police officials.

The intelligence official quoted above said that to compensate for reduced numbers, Maoists have enhanced perimeter vigilance and are using villagers as spotters and information carriers, though this tactical shift is not explicitly acknowledged in the June document.

Security officials also report an increase in attacks on suspected police informers, with six villagers killed in June alone by Maoists. Intelligence inputs indicate this tactic is being used to conduct reconnaissance and identify suspected informers, though the document does not directly address civilian targeting.

A security official said: “The political operatives are openly mingling with villagers, often disguised as common civilians, participating in meetings and even staying in villages for extended periods to avoid detection.”

Despite acknowledging massive casualties and strategic failures, the document maintains defiance. It asserts that central and state governments cannot eliminate the revolutionary movement by March 31, 2026, and calls for mounting pressure through civil society groups across 9-10 states to halt Operation Kagar.

The party has called for observing “martyrs’ week” from July 28 to August 3 across their areas of influence.