'9" IJnderstanding Maoists Notes ofa Participant Observer fromAndhra Pradesh N. Venugopal Sefu Prakashani Kolkata Delhi Understanding Maoists Notes of a Participant Observer from Andhra Pradesh by N Venugopal ,-, Cover Design : Ramanajeevi f ,.rorg o{ {ori Cover Page Photo by Sangeveni Ravindra Mg b.othe r, comrade, and guide Many landlords in Telangana fled abandoning their forts as a result of the peasant moyement. The piclure shows greenplants bursting out of the deserted Wh", the world k..* ." K;sh"n1ji fort. @ N. Venugopal Rao, January 2013 [email protected] ISBN : 978-93-8067742-2 (PB) 97 8-93 -8067 7 -43-9 (HB) Rupees :Three Hundred and Seuenty Five Only (PB) Seyen Hundred Only (HB) No part ofthis book can be electronically or otherwise reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author and the publisher Published by Archana Das & Subrata Das on behalf of Setu Prakashani, 12lA Shankar Ghosh Lane, Kolkatta-700 006, India Ph : +91 33 2219 0704, +9194330 74548 Website : www.setuprakashani.com e-mail : [email protected] [email protected]. in Delhi Branch Office : A-43, Mahendiu Enclave, Galli No. 3 G.T. Kamal Road, Post Office : Azadptr, Delhi - I l0 033 Page Layout : C. Rajashekar Prinled by : Sarada Printing Worl<s 9C, Shibnarayan Das Lane, Kolkala - 700 006 As and When Preface : Part fulfillment of 'Duty to Give' 7 Ac k n owl edgemen ts 11 Section I Context ll 1. Fifty Years of Development - Light and Shadow 15 2. Social Movements as Motive Force 26 3. Impact ofExternal Funding 41 4. Chandrababu Naidu's Myths and Reality 58 5. Pests on a Farmer's Life 66 Section Il Peoptc's n'l 0varn0nts /-1 6. Growth of Naxalite Movement in AP (1967-96) 77 7 . Maoist Analysis of Agrarian Transformation 105 8.' The Dream for 'Land, Livelihood and Liberation' 133 9. Social Movements and Radical Questions 131 10. Tendu LeafLabourers in Telangana 145 I I . Politics of Nuclear Power 155 12 Naxalite Movement and Working Class 163 13. Talks and People's Consciousness 169 Sectiom Ill Repression r a( 14. Fake Encounters - Story from Andhra Pradesh t87 l5 Singing About Dark Times 201 16. Attempt on Gaddar's Life 211 17. Vakapalli - lmpunity of the Grey Hounds 2t8 18. Where Writing Becomes Unlawful - Ban on Virasam 224 19. Dilemma between Carrot and Stick - Critique of Prakash Singh 234 d Section IVCuiture Lf I Part fulfillment of 'Duty to Give' 20. Revolutionary Rhapsodies 242 21. Literature from Underground 245 22. Literature from Dandakaranya 251 23. Telugu Revolutionary Literature - Growth and Patterns 260 A."rrolrtion ary characterin The Wizard of the Crow, an epic novel by Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiongo, put it beautifully that Seclion V Dcpzrted Friends 277 everybody in this society has 'right to take and duty to give'. As a participant observer ofthe most historic 24. Cherabandaraju 278 and momentous revolutionary people's movement in mynative land, Andhra Pradesh, for 25, KVR 282 the last four decades I had exercised my right to take to a large extent and this part 26. K G Kannabiran 287 fulfillment of my duty to give is in a way a humble and modest 27. Cherukuri Rajkumar (Azad) 295 repayment. 28. R S Rao 303 The Telugu-speaking part 29. Mallojula Koteswara Rao (Kishenji) 310 ofsouth India, in its present form of Andhra Pradesh or even in its earlier forms, has been a hotbed of alternative thought and practice. The legacy can be traced back to hundreds ofyears ofpeople's struggles which lingers on as collective memory of defianca, Dut it would be suffrce to say that the influence of communist ideals has been prevalent here since the late thirties of the last century. This la.rd has witnessed the famous Telangana peasant Armed Struggle (1946-5 l), the first of its kind in the sub-continent and ever since the fire of people's movements under the influence of Marxism never ceased. Sixteen years after the official withdrawal of the Telangana armed struggle in 1951, it was Srikakulam which responded immediately to the call given by Naxalbari in 1967. Even when the Naxalite upsurge was suppressed at its origin as well as in Srikakulam, it was again Telangana which rekindled the spirit within no time. Not only keeping the fire alive, the revolutionary activists from Andhra Pradesh also spread across the country in the last three decades like seeds in a fertile soil. That's why now invariably the names of Telugu activists come up in any event related to the Maoist movement anywhere in the country. On the other hand, it is the police from Andhra Pradesh with their experience of decades, who go out circumventing administrative borders to collect and supply intelligence to and help in 8 Understanding Maoists Preface 9 killings and arrests by the police and paramilitary forces in other states. current to larger audience. Since there are not many accounts ofthe Thus there is always a felt need to understand the events and processes movement in Andhra Pradesh, I am humbly presenting this collection, that made this formidable and continuing revolutionary base in the despite its possible inadequacies. region. Indeed, the story of the Naxalite/Maoist movement in Andhra In all these activities - participation, observation, understanding, Pradesh needs to be told in detail to understand this all pervasive taking notes and publishing them I was helped and encouraged by tmportance. - hundreds of fiiends, some ofthem brutallykilled by State in the course Unfortunately, even as there is an immense felt need, there is of time and some had to remain nameless or under different acquired also a dearth of commensurate literature on the subject, particularly in identities in order to postpone the immanent untimely death. That's English. A comprehensive history of the four-decade old Maoist why these notes, in the first place, belong to all those who laid down movement in Andhra Pradesh is yet to be written. The literature available their invaluable life in the cause ofpeople. I happened to closelyknow on the subject in English, besides the ill-informed journalistic quick hundreds of them. I was an admirer, perhaps a messenger and a liiend cookies and occasional references in much larger accounts with a and a follower, of them. When I say that these are result of my moral different focus, is restricted to one or two academic works and one responsibility, I mean I owe that responsibilityto the departed friends. police version. An activist's insider account or a synpathetic observer's We cherished the same dream and their dream was cut short by the narration from outside is conspicuously absent. State's brutal bullets. I think it is my duty to letter their unfulfilled This book, however, cannot make a claim to fill the void. Despite dream. My moral responsibility also extends to all those acquainted a strong desire to take up that stupendous task, postponing it for future, and unacquainted friends who continue the struggle in the face of death. I wanted to collect some of my earlier published and unpublished notes And of course, the moral responsibility is more towards the exploited and articles into this volume. I have been a close observer of the and oppressed masses of this country struggling for liberation. movement since my childhood and came of age with it, had also tried Apart from the moral responsibility, myphilosophical perspective to publish most ofmy observations as and when possible. Besides being and political conviction also form basis to this effort. The philosophical an observer, I had an opportunity ofbeing a participant in students', perspective is an unabashed, unrepentant and firm belief in Marxism- literary and general social movements for over three decades. Though Leninism-Maoism and my political conviction is that Naxalbari, with ceased to be a participant (rather thrown out of Revolutionary Writers' all its diffrculties and ups and downs, had shown the real way for the Association in 2009 for a political blunder I committed), I continue to liberation ofoppressed and exploited Indian masses. be a keen observer of, as well as a strong believer in, the movement. The first essay in chronological order 'Tendu Leaflabourers of Throughout I have been taking notes and at least since the early Telangana' was written in a hot summer in 1984 and its story needs to 1980s I have been publishing them, both in Telugu and English. These be recollected here. Reading several inspiring reports on the ongoing notes evolved out of my moral responsibility, philosophical perspective, struggles oftendu leafpickers in Karimnagar forests appearing regularly and political conviction and found expression by the times I lived in. in Kranti, the then lbrtnightly organ of the CPI (ML) (Peoples'War), As successive steps in social history they are as much collective as AP State Committee, I asked Mallojula Koteswara Rao (the then mine. My role as a chronicler might have added, subtracted, ignored, Secretary of the AP State Committee under the name Prahlad) whether suppressed, distorted, threw a new light on the various obtaining aspects I could use those reports and write a piece to Economic and Political of the times, but nevertheless, those were the 'times'a changing' and I Weekly. He asked me to rneet the person in charge of the struggle and was a riiniscule part of that cauldron. In these notes, written as and get the first hand facts, rather than depending on published reports and when the social current flowed, I tried to capture the ebb and tide of the arranged my meeting with Muppala Lakshman Rao (perhaps, the then current, but I am sure there might have been some transmission and secretary of Karimnagar district committee).