Hazaron Khwaishein aisi…

Timeline of the CPI(ML) 1967 25 May: Historic peasant uprising begins at Naxalbari in Darjeeling district of West Bengal under the leadership of revolutionary communists belonging to the CPI(M). The uprising is brutally suppressed by the CPI(M)-led United Front government of West Bengal at the behest of the Congress government at the Centre. In reaction, communist revolutionary ranks rebel against the reformist-bureaucratic leadership of the party. The rebellion soon assumes an all India dimension. Entire state units of CPI(M) in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and considerable sections in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh join this rebellion. July-November: Magazines that would later become CPI(ML)’s organs such as Deshabrati, the Bengali weekly, Liberation, the English monthly and Lokyudh, the Hindi weekly started appearing. 11 November: For the first time after the uprising, Comrade Charu Mazumdar, the architect of Naxalbari, addresses the Shahid Minar rally organised by Naxalbari Krishak Sangram Sahayak Samiti. 12-13 November: Comrades from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal meet and form All India Coordination Committee of Revolutionaries in the CPI(M). 1968 14 May: The Coordination Committee is renamed as All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) with Comrade Sushital Roy Chowdhury as its convener. However, Maoist Communist Centre chooses to stay away from AICCCR. Within the AICCCR, certain fundamental differences lead to the exclusion of a section of Andhra comrades led by Comrade T.Nagi Reddy. 1969  February: AICCCR unanimously decides to launch a new communist party. 22 April: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) launched on the birth centenary day of Comrade Lenin. Comrade Charu Mazumdar elected as the Secretary of the Central Organising Committee. 1 May: Declaration of Party formation by Comrade Kanu Sanyal at a massive meeting held on the Shahid Minar ground in Calcutta. CPI(M) tries to disrupt the meeting and it results in armed clashes. This marks the beginning of a whole series of CPI(M)-inspired attacks on CPI(ML) ranks taking an eventual toll of more than a thousand of our comrades. By this time primary guerrilla zones had appeared at Debra-Gopiballavpur in West Bengal, Musahari in Bihar, Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh and above all at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. Severe state repression is let loose on Srikakulam struggle. Comrade Panchadri Krishnamurty and six others are murdered on the night of 26-27 May. The period between November and early December witnesses the killing of Comrades Subbarao Panigrahi, Nirmala Krishnamurty and several other frontranking leaders. An unprecedented student-youth upsurge rocks Calcutta and almost all other cities and towns of West Bengal. 1970 27 April: Deshabrati office in Calcutta which virtually functioned as the open Party centre is raided by the police. All out police repression ensues, forcing the party to go underground. 11 May: The First Party Congress is held in Calcutta under strict underground conditions. Comrade Charu Mazumdar is elected the Party General Secretary. 10-11 July: Comrades Vempatapu Satyanarayana and Adibatla Kailasam, legendary leaders of the Srikakulam uprising, are captured and murdered by the police in cold blood. Srikakulam guerrilla zone begins to suffer reversals. Comrade Appu, founder of the Party in Tamil Nadu and a member of the polit bureau dies a martyr some time in September or October. The news reaches after a lapse of time and the exact date of his martyrdom is never known. 1971 Exploiting the Bangladesh war, Indian rulers deploy the army to crush the movement in West Bengal. Uprising in Birbhum marks the high point of this period. Several guerrilla zones begin to suffer reversals. Thousands embrace martyrdom. Over 50,000 put behind bars in various Indian jails. Comrade Saroj Dutta, polit bureau member and renowned revolutionary cultural leader, is secretly eliminated by the police in the early hours of August 5. In a calculated demonstration of fascist violence, more than 150 comrades are massacred at Kashipore-Baranagar near Calcutta on 12-13 August. Inner-party struggles had started surfacing immediately after the First Congress. Amidst severe setbacks such struggles intensify and the Party begins to split. 1972 28 July: After 12 days of torture in Lallbazar police lock-up, Comrade Charu Mazumdar succumbs to death. With his martyrdom, the last vestige of the Party’s central authority collapses. 1973 Amidst sharpening polemics, attempts to rebuild the movement go on by surviving local Party organisations. New stirrings of guerrilla struggle backed by mass activism emerge in parts of central Bihar and Telengana. A red star arises over Bhojpur giving a fresh fillip to the Party’s reorganisation efforts. 1974 28 July: Party Central Committee reorganised at a meeting at Durgapur, West Bengal. Comrade Jauhar (Subrata Dutt) is elected the General Secretary. A popular student-youth movement erupts in Gujarat and Bihar. Railway employees all over the country go on a prolonged historic strike. 1975 Internal emergency clamped down on the country on June 25. Noted opposition leaders and thousands of political activists put behind prison bars. Armed struggle reaches new heights in Bhojpur and rural areas of Patna district of Bihar, Naxalbari of West Bengal and some parts of eastern UP. Intensified police repression claims the lives of a good number of comrades and finally on 29 November Comrade Jauhar himself gets killed in a police encounter in Bhojpur.   1976 The Second Congress of the Party held on 26-27 February in the countryside of Gaya Bihar, resolves to continue with armed guerrilla struggles and work for an anti-Congress united front. Delegates at the Second Party Congress, seen in the middle is Com.Vinod Mishra, who took over as General Secretary after Com.Jauhar’s martyrdom. 1977 Emergency lifted. Major changes take place in national political scene with the ouster of the Indira Gandhi government. Amidst an upsurge in armed actions as well as mass activism, Party decides to launch a rectification campaign. Party organisation spreads to Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. 1978 Rectification Movement combats the pure military viewpoint and emphasis is placed on organising mass peasant movements and kisan sabhas. A good section of youth active in the JP movement begins joining the Party. 1979 April 26-May 2: A special all-India Party conference held at Bhojpur formalises the outcome of the rectification movement. 1980 25 February: Comrades Govinda Teli, Kshitipati Das and five leading peasant comrades are killed in cold blood by the police in CPI(M)-ruled Tripura at Hurua near Dharmanagar. A militant mass peasant upsurge breaks out in rural areas of Patna and Party’s influence begins to spread over broader areas of central Bihar. After the collapse of the Janata Party government and Indira Gandhi’s return to power, Party puts forward the idea of a broad democratic front as the national alternative. 1981 30 January-2 February: Unity meet of 13 ML factions sponsored by the Party in a bid to form a single formation to act as the leading core of the proposed democratic front. After a promising start, the move however cannot be sustained. From this point onwards whereas the PCC group goes on to become irrelevant and splits up into various factions, the M-L movement begins to polarise between the Marxist-Leninist line of CPI(ML)(Liberation) and the anarchist line of CPI(ML)(People’s War). 23 February: First state level rally held in Patna under the banner of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha declares the beginning of a new phase of mass political activism. 1982 24-26 April: Indian People’s Front launched in Delhi at a national conference. Progressive democratic forces engaged in the popular anti-liquor movement in Uttarakhand and various nationality and civil liberty movements unite with communist revolutionary forces under the revolutionary democratic banner of IPF. In course of time, IPF begins to act as the Party’s open political platform actively intervening in national politics. At the end of the year the Third Party Congress takes place at Giridih, Bihar where the issue of participation in election is clinched. 1983 Assam movement shows signs of revival after the farcical Assembly election imposed at gunpoint on the people. While firmly demarcating itself from the CPI(M)’s pro-state anti-movement stance, our Party successfully champions the democratic national aspirations of the Assamese people and emphasises the movement’s integration with the tribal communities of Assam. IPF begins to acquire a new and distinct identity in the ongoing democratic movement. Primary links are established with a whole spectrum of mass organisations and mass movements. An all-India dalit conference is held at Amravati, Maharashtra to facilitate interaction with Ambedkarite groups. 1984 Operation Bluestar in June brutally hurts the sentiments of Sikhs all over the country. Thousands of Sikhs perish in the anti-Sikh pogrom perpetrated in the capital in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. IPF Second Conference held in Calcutta as scheduled on November 4-6 defying all disturbances. 1985 Under Party’s guidance, People’s Democratic Front launched in Karbi Anglong district of Assam to provide a revolutionary democratic orientation to the tribal people’s aspirations for autonomy. PDF wins a seat in the Assembly election in Assam, bringing about the first entry of a Party cadre in the legislative arena. In two separate incidents, Party loses three outstanding peasant fighters and Party activists in Bihar. Comrades Kesho, Sahato and Jiut had played a great role in rejuvenating and consolidating the fighting backbone of militant agrarian struggles in the late 70s and early 80s. Jan Sanskriti Manch takes shape at a conference in Delhi of cultural activists drawn primarily from the Hindi-speaking region. 1986 IPF President Com. Nagbhushan Patnaik accompanied by Comrades Akhilendra Pratap Singh and Sangeeta (from right to left), leading a gherao of Bihar Assembly in protest against Arwal massacre. More than a dozen landless labourers gunned down on April 19 by the police at Arwal in Jehanabad district of Bihar rekindling memories of the infamous Jalianwallah Bagh massacre. A militant gherao of the Bihar Assembly is organised in protest by IPF in August. This marks the beginning of a new phase of assertion and ascendance of revolutionary democratic forces. A national women’s convention is held in Calcutta on 5-7 April to promote cooperation and critical interaction between communist women’s organisations and upcoming feminist and autonomous women’s groups. 1987 May 7: PDF gets transformed into the Autonomous State Demand Committee. After a powerful and sustained mass movement against the Congress-led District Council, ASDC goes on to sweep the district council elections in 1989. An all-India workers’ convention is held under IPF banner at Ambernath near Bombay in November. Datta Samant, the leader of the historic Maharashtra textile strike addresses the convention as the main speaker. 1988 Fourth Party Congress held at Hazaribagh, Bihar from January 1 to 5. While rectifying old errors of judgement in the Party’s assessment of Soviet Union, the Congress also joins issue with Gorbachev’s euphoric discourse on ‘peaceful’ imperialism. Party reiterates the basic principles of revolutionary communism – defence of Marxism, absolute political independence of the Communist Party and primacy of revolutionary peasant struggles in democratic revolution – in the face of a global offensive of bourgeois ideological trends. The whole Party rallies unitedly and whole-heartedly in a vigorous ideological campaign to thwart the threat of liquidationist renegacy. 1989 The founding conference of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) held in Madras in May. In the Lok Sabha election held in November, more than a dozen Party supporters are shot dead on the polling day evening in Danwar-Bihta village under the Ara Lok Sabha constituency of Bhojpur district by the local landlords angered by our campaign against booth-capturing. The massacre however fails to prevent the Party from recording its first electoral victory under IPF banner. Ara sends the first Naxalite member to Indian Parliament. 1990 In the Assembly election held in February, IPF wins seven seats and finishes second in another fourteen. In Assam too, a four-member ASDC legislators’ group enters the Assembly. Special all-India Conference held in Delhi on 22-24 July to initiate the process of Party’s restructuring and opening up. All India Students’ Association (AISA) launched at Allahabad on August 9-11. The VP Singh government had just announced its decision to implement the decade-old recommendations of the Mandal Commission. AISA focuses on the demand for students’ inalienable right to education and employment to counter the Mandal-inspired caste polarisation within the student community. First all-India IPF rally held in Delhi on 8 October 1990. This first ever massive mobilisation of rural poor in the national capital with the basic slogan of “Dam Bandho, Kaam Do” (Check Prices, Give Us Jobs) in the midst of fast escalating Mandal-Mandir frenzy demonstrates the growing potential of our movement before the democratic intelligentsia and political circles. 1991 In the May ’91 Lok Sabha election, IPF loses the Ara seat but the Party continues to retain its presence in Parliament through the ASDC MP. The launching of the pro-imperialist new economic policy in July leads to large-scale protests from trade unions all over the country. AICCTU unites with other Left-led central trade unions to form the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions. 1992 Party reorganises the erstwhile Janwadi Mazdoor Kisan Samiti in South Bihar as Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (Jhamkis) to play a more direct and active role in the Jharkhand movement. The Sponsoring Committee of TUs organises a mammoth rally of workers in Delhi on 25 November. On 6 December, kar sevaks demolish the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya plunging the nation into the worst ever anti-Muslim riots since the Partition days. The Fifth Party Congress, the first ever open Congress of our Party, takes place in Calcutta from 20 to 26 December followed by a massive rally at the Brigade Parade Ground on December 28. The Congress brings the Party out into the open and calls for a Left confederation. 1993 Defying the ideological offensive unleashed by the saffron brigade and other forces of right reaction, AISA notches up a chain of impressive victories in UP campuses like Allhabad, Varanasi and Nainital culminating in its series of Presidential victories in the prestigious Jawharlal Nehru University in the capital. Fed up with the growing pro-rich tilt of the CPI(M)’s peasant wing in west Bengal, sections of the party’s rural poor base begin to cross over to our fold right in its stronghold of Bardhaman district. In a bid to nip this growing dissension in the bud, local CPI(M) bosses hack five agrarian labourer comrades to death at Karanda village near Bardhaman town on 31 May right on the day of panchayat poll. To provide a new Left orientation to the growing Muslim disillusionment with the Indian political establishment, Party initiates a new forum called Inquilabi Muslim Conference in Bihar. Party organisation spreads to Rajasthan and work expanded in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab. With the coming into being of the broad-based Platform of Mass Organisations, joint activities expand with Left-led mass organisations on diverse fronts. All our mass organisations play a key role in the Bharat bandhs and other protest actions waged by this mass platform against the new economic policy. 1994 February:All India Progressive Women’s Association launched at a national women’s conference in Delhi. IPF is formally dissolved and fresh attempts begin for forging a united front with some sections of Leftists, Socialists and grassroots activists centring around an anti-imperialist agenda. Interaction also grows with Communist and Left parties in other parts of the world attempting to revive the movement and draw lessons from the Soviet collapse. 1995 Six-member CPI(ML) group formed in Bihar Assembly. Two of these MLAs come from Siwan illustrating the Party’s expansion in the northern region of Bihar. All India Organisational Plenum held at Diphu in July to streamline the Party’s organisational network and functioning. Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) launched as an all-India organisation of the radical youth. On 14 December, Party organises a successful Jharkhand bandh to press for the demand for dissolution of the undemocratic Jharkhand council and formation of a full-fledged Jharkhand state. 1996 Following a month-long intense political campaign against the ruling class politics of crime, scams and subservience to imperialist dictates, Party organises a massive Adhikar Rally (Rally for Rights) on the historic Red Fort ground in Delhi on 11 March. Five-member ASDC group formed in Assam Assembly. ASDC MP reelected to Parliament. Another ASDC member elected to the Rajya Sabha. ASDC retains its majority in Karbi Anglong District Council and also unseats the Congress in the neighbouring North Cachhar Hills district. To harness the growing assertion of various tribal communities of Assam in the cause of revolutionary democracy, Party takes the initiative to form, first, a Tribal People’s Front and then a broader Assam People’s Front. With Jharkhandi political forces getting widely defeated and discredited in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, Party joins hands with the CPI and Marxist Coordination Committee led by Comrade AK Roy to strengthen the Left’s united role in the movement. To facilitate organised interaction among various streams of Marxist and progressive intellectuals, Party initiates the Indian Institute of Marxist Studies. The IIMS has since published a popular booklet on basic communist principles and held a series of DD Kosambi memorial seminars on caste and class, economic nationalism, panchayati raj, women’s question, land reforms and Jharkhand question in Hyderabad, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Patna and Ranchi. Armed clashes with feudal private armies escalate in Bihar countryside particularly in the districts of Bhojpur and Siwan. Over 150 common people including women and children have been killed so far by these reactionary private armies. The barbaric massacre of more than a dozen women and children, mostly Muslim, at Bathani Tola of Bhojpur by the armed goons of Ranvir Sena which enjoys the patronage of the state as well as parties like BJP and JD, attracts nationwide democratic protests. Party continues to expand in Bihar, Eastern UP, Madras industrial region, East Godavari district of Andhra and the Malda-Dinajpur belt of West Bengal. 1997 March 5: Party organises the historic Halla Bol rally in Patna with mass representation from 53 of Bihar’s 55 districts. A successful Bihar bandh ensues on April 2: Party plays the leading role in uniting Left and democratic forces in the state in a powerful “Oust Laloo campaign” in the wake of the Rs.950 crore fodder scam. March 31: Comrades Chandra Shekhar and Shyam Narain assassinated in Siwan while addressing a street corner meeting. This gives rise to powerful nationwide protests, marked by an active participation of the intelligentsia. April 29: AISA-RYA organise a militant student-youth march to Parliament demanding punishment to Chandrashekhar’s killers. More than 100 students get injured.

Nitish Kumar: The best Chief Minister or the next Prime Minister?

Aishik Chanda

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was seen with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani flagging off ‘Jan Chetna Yatra’ from Sitab Diara village, the birthplace of the legendary socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan on October 12. According to him, the motive behind starting the yatra from Bihar is to give a strong message of political credibility and good governance. Making his stand clear as a secularist, the poster boy of good governance asserted, “flagging off an anti-corruption yatra cannot make (him) communal”.
“Advaniji may have taken out his previous yatras on other subjects but this one is exclusively devoted to anti-corruption. It is very relevant and starting it from JP’s (Jai Prakash Narayan’s) village on his birth anniversary makes it even more important against the backdrop of the legendary leader’s 1974 Total Revolution call,” said the chief minister before flagging off the 38-day yatra, that would culminate in New Delhi on November 20.
The incumbent Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar was born in Bakhtiyarpur, 50 Kilometers from Patna. His father Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh was a freedom fighter and was close to the great Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha, one of the founders of modern Bihar. He has a degree in electrical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Patna. Nitish Kumar belongs to a socialist class of politicians. He learnt the lessons of politics under the tutelage of stalwarts Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Kapoori Thakur, S.N Sinha, George Fernandes and V. P. Singh. He participated in JP’s movement from 1974-77.
He was first elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1985 as an independent candidate. In 1987, he became the President of the Yuva Lok Dal. In 1989, he became the Secretary- General of the Janata Dal in Bihar. During his tenure as the Railway Minister, he brought widespread reforms. On 3 March 2000, Nitish Kumar was appointed the Chief Minister of Bihar, but he resigned seven days later because failed to prove majority.
Its is speculated by many that the starting of the yatra from Bihar maybe a moral support by L.K Advani to Nitish Kumar as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 General elections for the National Democratic Alliance. The NDA has still not announced the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections but the two most powerful candidates for the top job are Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi. The hardliners in the party prefer Narendra Modi but the some parties in the alliance are supporting Nitish Kumar due to fear of losing precious Muslim votes if they support Narendra Modi. 

The biggest opportunity for Nitish Kumar is that the parties like Telugu Desam Party, Biju Janata Dal and Asom Gana Parishad, which are traditionally anti-Congress are wary of alienating minority support in BJP’s company but would be happy embracing NDA if Nitish Kumar is at the helm. Apart from his proven record in winning Muslim votes, he is winning, like Modi, in the politics of development as well.
As an administrator, he has addressed critical areas ranging from restoration of law and order to health, repairing and laying roads, completing the construction of long delayed bridges, appointing over 1,00,000 school teachers .He has put most of the goons of Bihar behind the bars due to which crime rate has reduced drastically. As a leader, he has pushed targeted social welfare schemes. He has the support of each and every caste and community in Bihar. According to his acolytes, if Nitish can make Bihar a functional state, he has the potential to change India too on behalf of NDA. But when asked about talks about him being portrayed as a Prime Ministerial candidate, he replied, “Honestly speaking, I have not even thought of myself as a prime ministerial candidate. In fact, I do not even consider myself qualified enough for the job. I am happy working for Bihar. I am serving the country by serving Bihar.”

Nitish Kumar’s biggest disadvantage is his electoral base. His party Janata Dal (United) is a regional party and has a supporter base only in the state of Bihar. His party has only 20 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. His biggest threat is that Modi can say that as the largest party, the Prime Ministerial post should be with the BJP, even if he is not appointed to the post. A wait of three more years will show us who would lead the country.

Sources: The Times of India
Wikipedia
India Today

Save a penny to buy a drink.

 Aishik Chanda

 The shutters started dropping with loud thuds at the ‘Pondy Bazaar’ in Thagaraya Nagar. We looked at our watches which showed the time as 9.30. Shopkeepers of the area started walking towards the nearby government owned TASMAC shop which keeps its shutters open till 10 in the night. The scene in the liquor shop was that of confusion and chaos. The lone employee was trying to fulfil everyone’s want of booze. Most of the customers were either buying local beers like ‘SNG 10000’ , ‘Kalyani Black Label’ or ‘MC rum’. Most of the shopkeepers who buy alcohol are either florists or food joint owners and employees. We enquired the reason why the shopkeepers went straight to the liquor outlets after closing their shops.

Gunasekaran, a food joint owner explained the reason why he drinks. He said, “I work a lot throughout the day from 6 in the morning till 9.30 in the night. As mine is a food joint so people flock here throughout the day. Booze acts as a stress buster for me and relaxes my brain for a couple of hours before I doze off. I drink daily but to a certain limit and my limit is a quarter of MC rum. Earlier my wife used to scoff at me for my habit but now she also understands that I liquor is not a fun item but is a need of mine.”

Another shopkeeper, Senthil Rajan, a florist explained his reason for his consumption of liquor. “The last few weeks have not been very good for my business. I made a loss of Rupees 10000 and I have to look after my family and also pay back debts. If this goes on either I have to quit my business or quit Chennai and go back to Pudukottai”. Looking towards the sky he said, “God only knows about the fate of me and my family”. Thanking him, we left the place with a heavy heart.

Alcohol, for some, acts as a ‘stress buster’ whereas for some as a ‘painkiller’.  

A life sketch of Maoist ideologue Varvara Rao by N. Venugopal

Varavara Rao, the best known Telugu revolutionary poet, public speaker, literary critic and emissary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) during the latter’s talks with the state government of Andhra Pradesh, both in 2002 and 2004, is once again under incarceration. The ruling classes in this south Indian state are indulging in a cruel and undemocratic harassment against him just because his political beliefs and practice are unpalatable to the powers that be. He has been a ‘prisoner of conscience’ since 1973, moving in and out of jails, under several false cases foisted by the police. In the last 32 years, he had spent about seven years in prison and 30 years attending various cases, though the government could not prove even a single charge against him in a single court of law. As the courts go on acquitting him from the fabricated charges of prosecution, the state machinery goes on inventing newer cases against him. As an accused in eight cases right now, he is languishing in Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad.

Varavara Rao, popularly known as V.V, is a name that inspires revolutionary fervor in the hearts of millions of oppressed masses all over India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular. The name also makes enemies of people in general and police in particular seething with anger as he has been a consistent champion of people’s right to rebel as well as a fierce critic of the wrong doings of state and its various agencies, especially police. He has been lending his voice to millions of voiceless through his poetry, essays, and speeches. It’s therefore not very unnatural that he is being harassed, persecuted and prosecuted by police on various unfounded and frivolous grounds.

Despite aged 65 and not keeping very good health for some time now, he has been in the forefront in exposing the systematic liquidation of revolutionaries, called Naxalites or Maoists in this part of the country, by the police as well as upholding the cause of revolution. Wrath of the powers that be against him is so strong that they were waiting for a pretext to pounce on him and the declaration of Viplava Rachayitala Sangham (Revolutionary Writers’ Association), of which he is a founder member, as unlawful by the government on August 17, 2005 gave the police a chance to jump at him. He was arrested in the early hours of August 19, 2005 (G Kalyana Rao, president of Virasam was also arrested a few hours later) and within the next ten days six new criminal cases were foisted against him and an old case which was dormant for over five years was dug out. By the time of writing this (December 15, 2005), the order declaring Virasam as unlawful was revoked making the case against him and Kalyana Rao redundant. He has been granted bail in some cases but the police are inventing more and more cases deliberately to prevent him from coming out of jail.

Varavara Rao is a renowned poet, journalist, literary critic, public speaker and essentially the voice of millions of voiceless masses in struggle in Andhra Pradesh, India. During the last 40 years he has been widely read and heard by millions of readers and audience. He has been writing poetry for the last four decades. He is considered as one of the best Marxist critics in Telugu literature and taught Telugu literature to graduate and undergraduate students for about 40 years. He is reputed as a great orator and had addressed hundreds of public gatherings. He founded Srjana (creation), a forum for modern literature in Telugu in 1966 as quarterly and later turned it into a monthly and successfully brought it out till 1992. He was associated with many a progressive and revolutionary journal in Telugu. As he upheld the cause of the people throughout this period of his multi–faceted activity, he became a prime target to the rage of the ruling classes. He is subjected to the harassment that he is undergoing now for his sincere and enduring proclamation to fight for the people.

Pendyala Varavara Rao was born on November 3, 1940 in Chinna Pendyala, Warangal district into a middle class family. He studied at Chinna Pendyala, Warangal and Hyderabad. He has been publishing poetry since 1958. By 1960, he finished his masters in Telugu literature from Osmania University. Thus he was trained in traditional literary forms and criticism besides being himself a poet and literary critic in his own right.

After completing his M.A. he registered for Ph.D. to pursue research on poetry. But later he left research to join a private college at Siddipet, Medak district as a lecturer. From there he switched over to DAVP, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi to work as a Publication Assistant. Again he left the job to join as a lecturer in another private college at Jadcherla, Mahabubnagar district. He could not feel content with all these short-spanned occupations as he was basically rooted in the soil of Warangal. He longed to be in Warangal and to work amidst the masses there.
 
Vague humanism, ambiguous concern for the people, and illusions about Nehruite socialism marked his character of that period. Transformation towards clarity started in his mind during his tenure in Mahabubnagar district. He thought of publishing a journal to be a forum of modern Telugu literature. He founded a group, by name ‘Saahithee Mithrulu’ (friends of literature) in Warangal and started bringing out the journal from November 1966. Srjana initially was totally devoted to modern literature without any outspoken commitment towards any particular philosophical outlook.

But that period was immediately followed by an age of clarity and polarization. Ambiguity was losing ground. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution on the international arena and Naxalbari on the national scene paved the path for ‘blossoming of hundred flowers’. Warangal was one of the earliest centers in Andhra Pradesh to have responded to the call of Naxalbari. By that time Varavara Rao returned back to Warangal to join CKM College as a lecturer in 1968. In 1969 Warangal witnessed the sprouting of a literary group, ‘Thirugabadu Kavulu’ (Rebel Poets), who associated themselves with the armed struggle going on in Srikakulam then. Naturally Varavara Rao was the moving force behind this group.

At the same time, momentous changes were taking place in Telugu art and literature. A number of young writers and artists openly came out with their solidarity to the fighting masses. All the existing literary establishments were questioned. Rebellion shook the foundations of traditional, vague humanistic, romantic and degenerated “progressive” schools of literature. Some illustrious figures like Sri Sri and Kutumba Rao from older generation joined hands with the young blood in the cause of the people. Under the influence of the three-year old people’s armed struggle in Srikakulam, a yearlong efforts in the literary field brought Viplava Rachayitala Sangham into existence.  Virasam declared that the martyred poet–revolutionary Subba Rao Panigrahi as its source of inspiration. Varavara Rao was one of the founder members of Virasam. Since its inception he has been on its executive committee.
 
As a spokesperson of Virasam, Varavara Rao toured whole of Andhra Pradesh and addressed several meetings. He had to convert Srjana into a monthly to enable it to carry the revolutionary message far and wide. He never relinquished writing poetry throughout this hectic period of teaching in a college, speaking at public meetings and editing a highly respected literary monthly.
 
Enraged at Varavara Rao’s political and literary activity, the government of Andhra Pradesh wanted to silence him. He was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in October 1973. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh struck down the order and released him after a month and a half. The High Court judgment asked the government not to resort to such actions against writers unless their writings have an immediate and direct bearing in a physical action. Taking cue from this suggestion, the government prepared a grand conspiracy case wherein all the actions of revolutionaries were shown as the direct consequences of a poem or a speech or a writing of revolutionary writers. Prominent Virasam leaders Cherabanda Raju, KV Ramana Reddy, T Madhusudana Rao, M T Khan, Varavara Rao and M Ranganatham were implicated in the case along with 41 revolutionary activists. This infamous conspiracy case, known as Secunderabad Conspiracy Case, was filed in May 1974 and ended in acquittal in February 1989, after 15 years of prolonged and tiresome trial.

In connection with the Conspiracy Case, Varavara Rao was arrested in May 1974. He was denied bail several times and finally released on conditional bail in April 1975, only to be arrested again on June 26, 1975, on the eve of proclamation of Emergency. During Emergency he was a detainee under the MISA. He was one of the few prisoners whose interviews with their relatives were restricted and their mail was subjected to stringent scrutiny. Though all the prisoners were released on the day when Emergency was lifted, Varavara Rao was arrested again at the entrance of the jail and was kept behind the bars for a week more on a fresh MISA warrant. He was released only when the new Janata government repealed the Act itself.

Post-Emergency days gave a boost to the people’s movement in Andhra Pradesh. Particularly, northern Telangana districts have witnessed an upsurge of widespread mass movements over genuine people’s demands. Varavara Rao was in the forefront to mobilize popular and democratic support to the fighting masses. He played a considerable role in attracting sympathy and solidarity towards the movement from all over the country. His activities infuriated the landlords and the police of these districts. The vested interests started planning to harass and assault him. They even thought of liquidating him physically. He survived several attempts on his life by mercenaries of landlords as well as anti-social elements. A police official at Mandamarri, Adilabad district in April 1979, beat him on a public platform.

In 1983 elections, N T Rama Rao came to power defeating Congress. N T Rama Rao very well knew the strength of the revolutionary mass movement in northern Telangana. He realized that it was a force to be reckoned with. He used this realization to woo the movement to get votes, in the first phase and later to crush the movement to consolidate his power. He praised the Naxalites for their patriotism before the elections. After coming to power he demonstrated no significant change in government policy towards the revolutionary movement. Particularly after he was elected for a second time in 1985, his government started an all out brutal assault to crush the movement. Encounter killings were continued unabatedly. The government had started giving huge amounts as rewards to the police officials engaged in fake encounter killings. The notorious police officials became a law unto them with unquestioned power and unaccounted money. Overall repression on the poorer sections of the people was let loose.

Varavara Rao too was subjected to severe repression during this time. Six false cases were foisted against him in 1985 alone. In July that year, along with functionaries of other people’s organizations, he undertook an all India tour to make the people aware of the repression that was going on in Andhra Pradesh. After visiting Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, New Delhi and Tamil Nadu, Varavara Rao returned back to Andhra Pradesh in September to attend court cases. On September 3, the police of Warangal killed Dr. A. Ramanatham, Vice-President, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and a popular pediatrician in Warangal. Dr. Ramanatham was a close friend of Varavara Rao. While killing Dr. Ramanatham, and on several other occasions, police openly declared that killing Varavara Rao was their aim. With his life at risk, Varavara Rao could not discharge his duties as Secretary of Virasam and spokesperson of revolutionary literary movement. He was not able to move freely in Andhra Pradesh. Warangal has become a forbidden place for him. His house was attacked on several occasions by armed and unarmed ruffians and police in civil clothes. Persecution against his friends in the movement was also mounted. Taking into consideration all these developments, Varavara Rao chose to cancel his bail in Secunderabad Conspiracy Case. On his request, his bail was cancelled and he was sent to jail on December 26, 1985.

Even after Varavara Rao went to jail, the government continued in its onslaught against him. His family was harassed. His interviews were restricted and under severe surveillance. His mail, including registered newspapers, was censored for months together. As if this is not enough, he was implicated in two more cases while he was in jail. One of them was another conspiracy case by name, Ramnagar Conspiracy Case. Foisted in 1986, this case went on to break records and after 17 years of trial, Varavara Rao was acquitted in 2003. In 1986 one of his poetry anthologies Bhavishyathu Chitrapatam (Portrait of the Future) was banned by the state government. Through these terror tactics, the government wanted to teach Varavara Rao and other revolutionary writers a lesson for their crime of supporting people. Varavara Rao was released in 1988 when he was acquitted in Secunderabad Conspiracy Case and from 1990 onwards he started living in Hyderabad.

After a stifling repression period between 1985-89 under the Telugu Desam Party rule, the newly elected Congress government allowed a little relaxation for a short period after December 1989. While all the ruling class politicians, police and media were suggesting that the revolutionary movement died down under the iron heel for four years, the relaxation period demonstrated how strong was the mass base of the movement. Beginning from January 1990, when Virasam held its twentieth annual conference in Hyderabad to May 1990 when Andhra Pradesh Raithu Cooli Sangham held its annual conference in Warangal, millions of people attended the meetings and expressed their unity with the movement. The media reported that 12 lakh people attended the Warangal meeting, almost double the population of that city. Varavara Rao played a very important role in all these meetings as organizer and speaker. But within a short time from this massive gathering, the government revived ‘encounter’ killing policy against armed revolutionaries and began threatening sympathizers of the movement with killing of N Prabhakar Reddy, a lawyer and leader of APCLC. Varavara Rao had to shift to relatively safer Hyderabad, where he joined as a post-doctoral research scholar studying oral traditions in literature at University of Hyderabad.

In 1994, NT Rama Rao’s Telugu Desam Party came back to power on several pro-people promises. But the prevalent globalization process forced him and his pro-people policies out of power and the same globalization forces encouraged N Chandrababu Naidu to organize a palace coup against Rama Rao. Under Chandrababu Naidu’s rule Andhra Pradesh was literally sold out to MNCs on the diktats of World Bank. Varavara Rao, along with a number of intellectuals and people’s organizations stood in the forefront in exposing and resisting these policies. In a rapidly deteriorating governance, apart from letting loose the police forces, Chandrababu Naidu privatized state violence also and added a new dimension of mobilizing anti-social elements and former Naxalites into private criminal gangs and getting popular voices silenced with those hired killers. Three Central Committee members of Peoples War arrested in Bangalore and killed in cold blood. T Purushotham and Md Azam Ali, leaders of APCLC were killed by the private criminal gangs and life-threat to Varavara Rao turned immanent.

However, even as executing the worst kind of repression, the Telugu Desam government was forced to come down and accept, even if half-heartedly, a proposal to have a dialogue with the Naxalites. The initiatives for peace negotiations began in 2001 and the then Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Peoples War announced the names of Varavara Rao and Gaddar as its emissaries to work out modalities for the proposed talks. The Naxalite party was under ban at that time and these two writers were chosen as emissaries, keeping in view their yeomen services in people’s causes for over three decades then. The government had also named two ministers as its representatives and after three sittings held at a time of unabated encounter killings, Varavara Rao and Gaddar pulled out of the talks’ process, that went on between May and July 2002. 

The then opposition Congress party criticized the stand of the Telugu Desam party with regard to the talks and made a categorical promise in its Election Manifesto 2004 to hold talks to arrive at a meaningful peace. The Congress came to power in May 2004 and initiated the talks’ process in June. This time round the then CPI (M-L) Peoples War named Varavara Rao, Gaddar and novelist G Kalyana Rao as its emissaries. The emissaries assumed their position on July 13 and had involved themselves in several rounds of discussions on modalities with the government including the Home Minister and the government representatives. Finally, leaders of two Naxalite parties (by then CPI – ML – Janasakthi also joined the talks process and the CPI – ML- Peoples War became CPI – Maoist) came for the talks held between October 15 and 18, 2004. After this first round of talks, the negotiating parties had to meet for subsequent rounds but the government began a spree of encounter killings in January 2005 and the Naxalite parties withdrew from the process on January 16. After some failed attempts to revive the process, Varavara Rao and other emissaries withdrew from their positions on April 4, 2005.

While the Naxalite leaders who came out for talks received respect and hospitality from the government, the same government within no time started hunting for them and killing them. Within one year of the talks the police killed over 150 Naxalite activists in a cold-blooded manner and described those events as encounters. This kind of brutality was extended to the emissaries also and the police began inventing and fabricating criminal cases against the emissaries. Yet the government continued to pay lip service to have a dialogue with the Naxalites and this desire was expressed several times by the Chief Minister, Home Minister and other important functionaries of the Congress party including the PCC President.

The cases against Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao, who were arrested on August 19, 2005, are clearly mal-intentioned, baseless, unsubstantiated and vindictive. There is no prima-facie evidence against both of them to be implicated in any of the cases, except some grouse and vindictive attitude on the part of some top bosses of the government and police machinery.

Apart from an earlier case of 1999 (pertaining to a protest meeting against the killings of three top leaders of Peoples War), and the case regarding the ban on Virasam, the remaining six cases pertain to the period of talks between the government and the Naxalites. Varavara Rao’s position as emissary was for a particular purpose accepted by the government and for a particular period. However, just because he was an emissary of a political party at the talks, the police machinery had implicated him in all those crimes alleged to have committed by that party, after the breakdown of the talks. Beginning from Valmiki to Tikkana to Srinatha to Jnanpeeth award winner Indira Goswami who is now an emissary of ULFA, this role is played by dozens of writers and intellectuals in India and elsewhere. But in the entire history, emissaries were never treated in such an uncivilized manner as the government now treats them.

A cursory look at the six cases would reveal the mal-intentions of the police in foisting these cases:

Madigubba case: This case was registered on September 22, 2004 exactly three weeks before the commencement of the talks. Both Varavara Rao and Kalyan Rao were speakers at a public meeting at Madigubba on that date. The case against them is that they provoked the people assembled there to beat up a constable in plain clothes. But the fact is both of them were on the stage when the people started beating the constable and they immediately rushed to the spot to protect the constable. In fact the whole episode was video recorded by several TV channels and played many times on that day and later also. Thus the charges of provocation are concocted and the mal-intentions of the police are evident by the fact that they did not seek the arrest of Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao for more than 11 months after foisting the case. Only when they were arrested under the APPS Act on August 19, a warrant was secured on August 20 from Anantapur court.

Balanagar case: This case was registered on March 18, 2005, five months after the talks and one month before they withdrew themselves from being emissaries of the Naxalites. The case against the two is that they instigated and provoked the Naxalites to kill a police constable at Balanagar. The FIR, Case Diary and the statements of police witnesses refer to the role of Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao as emissaries and that is shown as sufficient proof of their complicity! But, their position as emissaries was accepted by the government as a legitimate position and they were accorded due respect by the Home Minister and emissaries of the government at the talks. It is incomprehensible how the same position becomes a sufficient proof for complicity in a crime.

Acchampet case: This case was registered on March 31, 2005, five days before they withdrew from being emissaries. The case is that they directed and instructed the Naxalites to kill two constables. Again it is a clear case of implicating them on a cooked up charge just because they acted as emissaries. 

Chilakaluripet case: This case was booked on March 11, 2005, three weeks before the emissaries withdrew from their positions. The case against them is that they issued instructions to blast Chilakaluripet Police Station. It is also a sheer implication by imagination just because they were acting as emissaries.

Ongole case: This case was booked on April 27, 2005, three weeks after they withdrew from their positions as emissaries. The case is that they instigated and provoked the Naxalites to make an attempt on the life of the SP of Prakasam district. No need to say that they were implicated in this case as a revenge for their role as emissaries.

Manthani case: This case pertains to violation of Sec 144 at a public meeting at Begumpet, Karimnagar district. The charge of violating Sec 144 is a regular allegation of police against political adversaries and it is never dealt with such a stringent attitude as is done in this case.

Thus none of the cases against Varavara Rao stands scrutiny of rule of law, natural justice and common sense. They are mere reflections of an intolerant, ruthless, law-breaking and cruel police force. 

Besides these cases, Varavara Rao is also undergoing prosecution in a case under the APPS Act, pertaining to the ban on Virasam. This case shows the utter disregard of police to the law of the land. When the government revoked the AP Public Security Act against Virasam through GO Ms No. 503 of 11.11. 2005, the cases against Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao should have become infructuous and redundant. In the normal course, Public Prosecutor should have informed the court about the redundancy of the cases. However, even after one month, that order has not reached the court and Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao had to undergo two adjournments of the case after the lifting of the ban.

But, either for Varavara Rao or for Virasam this kind or repressive measures, harassment and threats are not new to experience. Seven issues of Srjana were banned and Varavara Rao and his wife Hemalata have faced trials. As publisher of Srjana, Hemalata was sentenced for three years rigorous imprisonment for publishing a poem supporting 1974 Railway Strike. Their house was attacked several times. Varavara Rao was implicated in about 20 cases between 1974 and 2005 and was acquitted in 12 cases by now. However, constant trial in so many cases took a toll on his health and security of his family. At least for the last ten years, a persistent death threat is hanging above his head.

Sailing against all these odds, Varavara Rao always stood for his ideals. He never left his revolutionary spirit. His commitment was translated into practice in political and literary forms consistently. Two hundred issues of Srjana, before it suspended its publication in 1992 after the first ban on the people’s movements in the state, stand as a demonstration of remarkable achievement in pro-people literary craftsmanship.

Varavara Rao has published nine poetry collections of his own besides editing a number of poetry anthologies. His poetry collections are: Chali Negallu (Camp Fires, 1968), Jeevanaadi (Pulse, 1970), Ooregimpu (Procession, 1973), Swechcha (Freedom, 1978), Samudram (Ocean, 1983), Bhavishyathu Chitrapatam (Portrait of the Future, 1986), Muktakantam (Free Throat, 1990), Aa Rojulu (Those Days, 1998), and Unnadedo Unnattu (As it is, 2000). His poetry has been translated into almost all Indian languages. His poetry collections appeared in Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi and a few Bengali and Hindi literary journals brought out special numbers of his poetry and writings. Besides a number of articles on particular occasions, his thesis on ‘Telangana Liberation Struggle and Telugu Novel – A Study into Interconnection between Society and Literature’ (1983) is considered to be landmark in Marxist literary criticism in Telugu. He published three volumes of literary criticism and a volume of his editorials in Srjana. During his prison days he translated Ngugi wa Thiongo’s prison diary Detained and novel Devil on the Cross into Telugu, besides writing his own prison diary Sahacharulu (1990).

These writings of Varavara Rao speak volumes of his strong bond with the people and his dedicated belief in people’s struggle for better life. By going through any of these writings one can easily understand that the revolutionary fervor of Varavara Rao cannot be crushed, whatever be the attempts of the reactionary forces. In 1973 he wrote,

When crime assumes power
And hunts people treating them as criminals
Everybody who has a voice and keeping silent
Is also a criminal

Varavara Rao would not want to be a criminal and that’s why the real criminals who assumed power are implicating him in criminal charges. The last four decades of his life is a testimony to his determination and the state’s assault on that determination.  

Kabutar in Dilli

Old cemetery in KGP

British cemetery in the Railway settlement in KGP

Waiting for the train to KGP

In mecheda station on our way from digha, waiting for the train to KGP

Old KGP

Yercaud

Ganga