Top Maoist leader Ganapathi in crippled condition, says surrendered senior Naxalite 

HYDERABAD: Former General Secretary of CPI (Maoists) Muppala Laxman Rao alias Ganapathi is in a crippled physical condition. He is unable to go through the country's combat zones due to severe ailments. Therefore, he has been discharged from his responsibilities as general secretary. He has lost his memory and the capacity to talk rationally, and his health is currently in a very critical condition. The CPI (Maoist) organisation has suffered organisational and military setbacks as a result of the arrests, deaths, and surrenders of major and senior leaders.

Maoist leader Aluri Usha Rani, popularly known as Viiayakka or Pochakka, surrendered before Telangana police on Saturday in the presence of Director-General of Police (DGP) M Mahender Reddy.

Usha Rani, 53, also known as Bhanu didi, is a member of the divisional committee for the north sub-zonal bureau of the DandaKaranya special zonal committee. She is a native of Tenali, Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh and was raised in Gudivada of Krishna district.

Usha Rani, disclosed that many senior CPI (Maoist) members who have reached the age of 60 suffered from serious health issues and were not receiving proper attention or care since they lacked access to medical facilities.

Reasons for Surrender

Speaking of her reasons for giving up, she stated that she came from a revolutionary family and joined the PWG with high hopes of bringing about social change. She also said that despite actively taking part in armed conflicts for more than three decades, she had yet to see the end of the darkest of times. Despite her best efforts to teach the cadres the importance of the Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) concept, no one was able to do so since they lacked the knowledge and capacity to absorb it. She chose to surrender, citing health reasons, because her goals had not been attained and there was little chance of achieving them through a protracted violent conflict.

In April 2019, she requested treatment from Ramakrishna alais Kamlesh, South Zonal Committee Member, East Bastar In-charge, and announced her wish to resign due to health reasons because she could no longer work for the CPI (Maoist) organisation. The Central Committee members received the same approach and agreed that she could surrender in two and a half years, or in August 2022. She now desires to live in peace and harmony with her family.

In a message to the Maoist cadre, she stated that she had come to the realisation that, given the state of the digital revolution and the state's welfare-focused and pro-people policies, there was no longer any justification for the armed group to continue the revolutionary battle. Despite being born and raised in a revolutionary household, she noticed that the MLM concept had no place in today's society. She believed that since people all over the world became educated and rejected the MLM worldview, there was no reason to prolong the protracted military conflict and guerilla warfare that resulted in senseless violence. Therefore, she urged the Maoist cadres to lay down their weapons and integrate.

How Usha joined Maoists

Usha was drawn to the CPI (ML) People's War Group(PWG) after being moved by the actions and speeches of Gaddar, Kathi Padma Rao, Dappu Ramesh, Tarimela Nagi Reddy, and other active leaders who frequented their home in Gudivada. She joined Radical Students Union in 1984, while pursuing her degree in B.Sc. (MPC) at ANR Degree College, Gudivada, under the guidance of Kalleguri Prasad, Central Organizer.

She was chosen by the ANR Degree College, Gudivada students to lead their union in 1987. She was a member of the RSUs Coastal Andhra Regional Committee and the district president of the Krishna RSU. She joined the CPI (ML) People's War Group (PWG) in November 1991, inspired by her mentor Anand, the Krishna district secretary for the CPI (ML) People's War. Anand would frequently visit their home to meet her father Aluri Bhujanga Rao, a revolutionary writer.

In 1991 December, she was inducted as a party member in Munugode Dalam, which was then operating in Nalgonda district and led by one Ilanna, Commander. She was also appointed to the Squad Area Committee (SAC) in 1993. She was promoted to Deputy Commander in 1994 and remained in Rachakonda dalam. In 1995, she was promoted to Commander Rachakonda squad.

She was transferred to Krishnapati Dalam in 1997 as Commander, and she and the other members of the dalam were living in a house shelter in a village off Sagar Road in the Nalgonda district when she and the police engaged in an exchange of fire. Two activists, Swarnakka and Jyothakka, died in this incident, and while she was shot at close to the kidney.

She lost her husband Mukka Venkateshwar Gupta, also known as Kiran, in an exchange of fire in November 1998 while fleeing following an attack by Yadagirgutta police. He was a member of the South Telangana Regional Committee and the Nalgonda district secretary.

She was promoted to the rank of DCM after her husband's passing away and appointed in-charge of the Rachakonda & Alair Area Committees, a position she held until December 2002.

She was the only cadre from South Telangana regional committee to attend the 2001 Congress of the CPI (ML) People's War, which was held in the Maad region of Chhattisgarh.This meeting, which lasted for almost two months, was attended by all the central committee members, State Committee Members, and International Committee Members from Turkey and Nepal.

According to party directives, she was relocated to Chhattisgarh region in December 2002. She was designated for military operations and appointed as the fifth platoon commander during the same year's DKSZC State Committee Conference. She lived for almost a year in the Gadchiroli, Maad, and North Bastar regions. She thereafter experienced recurrent episodes of malarial fever, and the party granted her a six month leave of absence and instructed her to reside in the villages close to the Chargaon area of the Kanker district in Chhattisgarh.

She served as the area committee secretary for the Chargaon, Raoghat, and Anjarelli of Raoghat area committee in the North Basthar division in the Kanker and Narayanpur districts from 2006 to 2008. She created a unified front under the name of Raoghat during this time, with Chardam Bachao Manch in charge of the demonstrations against mining in the region.

Cases involved

She was involved in a number of violent incidents in both Telangana and Chattisgarh. According to available information and her own admission, she committed a total of 14 offences in Telangana and Chhattisgarh states during her underground life, including five attacks on security forces, three exchanges of fire with police, three blasts of public and private buildings, two abduction and assault cases, and one assault case. She was severely injured in an exchange of fire and survived with a bullet wound in Pedda Adisharlapalli village on the Sagar road, Nalgonda district.

DGP's appeal

The DGP of Telangana appealed to the Maoist cadres to reintegrate into society, contribute to the progress of the country through positive participation, and take advantage of the state's rehabilitation process, which included providing immediate relief with an appropriate amount and other support measures. The DGP informed that Usha Rani would receive complete rehabilitation from the State in accordance with the policy and be granted Rs. 50,000 to cover her immediate expenditures.