Mystery Maoist Leader Forms North Group, Vows To Continue Armed Struggle

The letter criticised surrendered Maoist general secretary Thippiri Tirupati alias Devji as a traitor and distanced the party from his statement that the party would work within the legal framework in promoting the ideals of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.

Referring to the Maoists’ strategy and tactics document, the letter, credited to a newly-formed group called the North Coordination Committee (NCC), stated that, “In countries like ours, the revolution will be waged primarily through armed struggle from the very beginning. During the New Democratic Revolution, the main form of struggle will be armed struggle, and the main form of organisation will be the military.”

Without the support of the armed forces of the people, the letter insisted that the mass struggle and the building of mass organisations cannot be successfully carried out. “Only by developing and spreading guerrilla warfare can the party succeed in strengthening mass struggles and thus lay the foundation for a people's alternative state.”

To accomplish this, the letter stated that the Maoists would remain armed and underground and the NCC was determined to make the New Democratic Revolution a success.

Following years-long action against Maoists across their strongholds, which intensified in the last year, the Maoists have become leaderless, with 19 out of 21 central committee members either surrendering to the government or getting eliminated. Only one member of the central committee is active, and the other member, Muppala Lakshmana Rao, popularly known as Ganapati, is ailing and is suspected to have shelter in Nepal.

The letter also stated that they have “reached out to all senior cadres and militants in AP, parts of TN, Maharashtra, districts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bhadradri, Bastar, Khammam, and other districts, urging them to keep the flag of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism high.”

After the letter surfaced, security along Telangana borders has been beefed up.

According to sources in the police department, Telangana is Maoist-free; intelligence agencies and armed forces are very active along the state borders. There is also considerable speculation about who is behind the letter.

Telangana DGP B. Shivadhar Reddy on Saturday said that “260 CPI Maoists have surrendered. Only four active underground (UG) cadres from Telangana remain in various formations outside Telangana. They are operating in other states, including Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Two among them are Central Committee Members of CPI (Maoist).”

On behalf of the Telangana government, the DGP once again appealed to four active cadres from Telangana —Ganapati; Pasanuri Narahari alias Santhosh, Jade Ratna Bai alias Sujatha, and Vartha Shekhar alias Mangthu— to eschew armed struggle, join the mainstream, and obtain the benefits of the Telangana government’s policy of surrender and rehabilitation.

The CPI-Maoist was formed on September 21, 2004, when the south-based People’s War Group and north-based Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) merged. Since then, the Maoists have been mostly dominated by the leadership from the PWG and the newly-formed North Coordination Committee (NCC) within the larger umbrella of CPI-Maoist appears to hint at the north-south schism and diverging paths.

According to the letter, two parallel political lines are fighting each other for control of political power — one line is held by communist revolutionaries like Comrade Karl Marx, Comrade Engels, Comrade Lenin, Comrade Stalin, Comrade Mao, Comrade Charu Majumdar, Comrade Kanhai Chatterjee, Comrade Basavaraju, Comrade Raju, Comrade Kosa, Comrade Hidma, among others, while the other line is held by traitors like Bernstein, Kautsky, Lin Biao, Prachanda, Balraj, Venugopal, Kobad, Devji, Prashant Rahi, etc.

The proponents of the second line, the letter argued, are opportunists, agents of the enemy, who are attacking the political line of the proletariat to weaken and then eliminate it.

“We must understand that a correct political line can only emerge in the course of fighting against opportunist and divisive elements. We should be proud to stand by Comrade Marx, Comrade Lenin, and Comrade Mao and fight. It has become clear to communist revolutionaries worldwide that traitors to the Indian revolution like Devji, Venugopal, Kobad, and Balraj are not friends of the people, but rather enemy agents disguised as revolutionaries.”