Get 72% off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine

SUBSCRIBE

Comrade Number One | Chhattisgarh

With bomb expert Basavaraju as their new chief, the Maoists may soon revive violence in the state.

Listen to Story

Advertisement
Comrade Number One | Chhattisgarh
CPI(Maoist) former general secretary Muppala Laxman Rao (left) and Nambala Keshav Rao.

A change of guard in the Maoist leadership has prompted Chhattisgarh’s security establishment to step up the vigil, anticipating fresh attacks by the rebels. Officials say 63-year-old Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju’s recent elevation as the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) central committee, could well provoke a major incident if only to mark the occasion.

Expected for some months, Basavaraju’s promotion’ was announced in a press communiqué from the CPI(Maoist) central committee spokesperson Abhay last month. The press note also said that 74-year-old M. Laxman Rao, the previous general secretary, had decided to step down because of his failing health. Also known as Ganapathy’, Rao had headed the party since 2004.

advertisement

Hailing from Jianapatta village in the Srika­kulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Basavaraju is an engineer from Warangal’s Regional Engineering College and is reportedly an expert in making bombs, planning ambushes and placing improvised explosive devices. He is said to have learnt bomb-making during his stint with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. Having left home in 1970, he has never been detained or arrested, which is why the police have no idea about his current appearance.

Though members of the CPI(Maoist) politburo are known to be constantly on the move, security officials believe Basavaraju is most likely restricted to Abujhmad or the Rajnandgaon-Gadchiroli-Balaghat trijunction between Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. This is where the Vistaar battalion of the Maoists holds sway. According to the security establishment, this battalion was set up to extend and strengthen the struggle in this area and allow them to open up another front after the squeeze in south Chhattisgarh became difficult for the Maoists to handle.

Chhattisgarh’s Special Director General of Police (Naxal operations), D.M. Awasthi, says, A leadership change in any organisation puts pressure on the new leader to make a point by staging an incident. We are alert and have stepped up operations.

Security personnel posted in the field say the change of guard signals a clear intent to step up attacks. The fact that he is the former head of the [Maoist] military commission makes it clear that Basavaraju will focus on his own strengtharmed struggle, an IPS officer posted in Bastar said.

This year, the security forces have launched some 270 anti-insurgency operati­ons in the state, in which 123 Maoists have been killed and some 600 others, including several top commanders, have surrendered.