Top Maoist leader’s death a blow to movement on ideological, operational fronts

The Chhattisgarh police announced that the 70-year-old top Maoist leader from Andhra Pradesh was killed in the encounter along with 26 others on Wednesday

Hyderabad: The gunning down of Communist Party of India (Maoist) General Secretary Nambala Keshava Rao, alias Basavaraju, in an encounter with security forces in the Narayanpur forests of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday morning is a major setback to the Maoist movement in India, both ideologically and operationally, according to officials familiar with the matter.

It is believed that a few other key leaders from the Telugu states were also among those gunned down on Wednesday morning.

The Chhattisgarh police announced that the 70-year-old top Maoist leader from Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh was killed in the encounter along with 26 others. It is believed that a few other key leaders from the Telugu states were also among those gunned down.

One of the Maoists killed was identified as Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao (48), also known by aliases such as Rajanna, Yesanna, and Naveen, originally from Jandrapet village in Chirala mandal (block) of Bapatla district. “He had been underground for the last 31 years and was heading the press unit of the party in Dandakaryana special zonal committee, running a publication called Awam-e-Jung,” a police officer said.

An official from the intelligence department , who asked not to be named, said the death of Keshava Rao would mark the virtual collapse of the Maoist leadership from the Telugu states. “For the last two decades, he had been heading the central military commission of the Maoist party, training the cadre in strong military tactics and guerrilla warfare. Being a postgraduate in engineering, he was also instrumental in training the Maoists in the making of improvised explosive devices,” the official said.

Besides being an expert in military operations, Keshava Rao also provided ideological strength to the party cadre. “The party has lost its main pillar of strength both in terms of military operations and the spreading of the ideology, as it was largely relying on the Telugu leadership. Like Keshava Rao, the party has lost many top leaders from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, either in encounters or due to age-related issues or various ailments,” the official added.

At the time of its formation in 2004, following a merger of the CPI (ML) People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), the Maoist party had a 16-member strong politburo, the outfit’s highest decision-making body, and a 34-member central committee (comprising all 16 politburo members and an additional 18 members), the second-highest decision-making body.

Many members of the central committee as well as the politburo of the CPI (Maoist) during its formation were from Andhra Pradesh. Muppalla Lakshmana Rao from Karimnagar, who was earlier heading the People’s War, was elected as its general secretary.

The other top Telugu leaders included: Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishen ji, Nambala Keshava Rao alias Ganganna alias Basavaraj, Sande Rajamouli, Katakam Sudershan alias Anand, Mallojula Venugopal alias Bhupati alias Sonu, Tipparthi Tirupati alias Devji, Malla Raji Reddy, Patel Sudhakar Reddy, Akkkiraju Haragopal alias RK, Chandramouli, Varanasi Subrahmanyam alias Srikanth, Ramchandra Reddy alias Chalapathi, Malla Raji Reddy alias Sattenna and Kobad Ghandy alias Saleem.

In the subsequent years, many other leaders from Telugu states were promoted to the top ranks, like Jinugu Narasimha Reddy alias Jampanna, Modem Balakrishna, Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy alias Kosa, Katta Ramchandra Reddy alias Vijay alias Raju, Pulluri Prasad Rao, Gajarla Ravi, Paka Hanumanthu alias Ganesh Uike, Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, Sanjay Deepak Rao, Takkallapalli Vasudeva Rao, Anuradha Ghandy and Lanka Papi Reddy.

According to a 2021 intelligence report, the central committee, which includes politburo members, comprised 21 members, of which 10 were from Telangana and two from Andhra Pradesh. This figure continued to witness changes due to elevation of some lower-rung leaders.

In the last two decades, several of these top Telugu leaders lost their lives. They include Sande Rajamouli, Cherukuri Raj Kumar alias Azad, Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji, Patel Sudhakar Reddy, and more recently, Ramchandra Reddy alias Chalapathi. Though there were reports of other top leaders, such as Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar and Paka Hanumanthu alias Ganesh Uike, being killed in encounters, these reports were not confirmed.

Some other central committee members, like Jinugu Narasimha Reddy alias Jampanna, Narla Ravi Sharma, Varanasi Subrahmanyam, Takkallapalli Vasudeva Rao, Lanka Papi Reddy, and Kobad Ghandy, either surrendered or were arrested by the police. Other top leaders, such as Akkiraju Haragopal, Malla Raji Reddy, Katakam Sudershan, Anuradha Ghandy, and Ravula Srinivas alias Ramanna, died of illness. Yapa Narayana alias Haribhushan and his wife Sharda, along with Kathi Mohan Rao and his wife Bharatakka, died of infections during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the latest document from the Chhattisgarh police, there are still 14 Telugu leaders in the top leadership of the party. “Of them, Keshava Rao was killed on Wednesday. The remaining leaders, including Muppalla Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathy, Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Abhay alias Sonu, Murali, Tipparthi Tirupati alias Devji, Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy alias Kosa, Modem Balakrishna, Pulluri Prasada Rao, Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, etc., are fighting a losing battle, going by the present state of affairs,” the official said.

Calling it unfortunate that, at a time when civil society was demanding talks with the Maoists, the government was responding with weapons instead of dialogue, Civil Liberties committee president Gaddam Lakshman urged the immediate declaration of a ceasefire in the Chhattisgarh forests and the initiation of talks with the Maoists. He also demanded a judicial inquiry into all encounters that have taken place so far.

“A government that has stopped war with an enemy nation is refusing to heed the voices of civil society. If the same magnanimity shown towards Pakistan were shown in the case of the Maoists, civil society would welcome it,” he added.