Basavaraj

[Following is a statement issued on May 28, by Abhay, spokesperson, Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Maoist), condemning the brutal murder of Basavaraj (NambalaKeshava Rao), Politburo Member and General Secretary of the CPI (Maoist) and calling for a Bharat Bandh on June 10 while requesting people to hold memorial meetings from June 11 to August 3 across the country in honour of Basavaraj and 27 martyred communists.]

21 May is a dark day in the history of the Indian revolutionary movement. On that day, the Indian Army, paramilitary, commando forces, and Chhattisgarh state police jointly conducted an operation in the Maad region of Narayanpur district under the directions of the country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Home Minister, Amit Shah. In that operation, they killed CPI (Maoist) General Secretary Basavaraj, along with leaders and cadres of the Party and the PLGA from various levels.

Modi shamelessly expressed pride in this massacre, and Amit Shah celebrated it as a “glorious victory.” With these statements, they have once again brazenly revealed their bloodthirsty, murderous nature.

At the end of March, under the leadership of Justice Chandra Kumar, a Peace Talks Committee was formed in Hyderabad, which issued a statement calling upon the Central and State governments to initiate peace talks with the CPI (Maoist). On 28 March, through a press release, the Party stated that if the Central and State governments created favourable conditions, they would be ready for peace talks. Subsequently, Central Committee Spokesperson Abhay and Rupesh, media representative for the North-Western Sub-Zone of the Dandakaranya Special Zone, each issued statements twice, requesting the Central and State governments to cease their ‘war’ and create conditions conducive to peace talks.

However, ignoring these appeals entirely, the Central and State governments continue to intensify their war using the most fascist means. From 1 April until now, approximately 85 activists have been killed across the country. On 21 April, in Bokaro district of Jharkhand, Central Committee member Vivek (Prayag Manjhi) was martyred. From 24 April to 8 May, 31 people were killed in Karregutta. Since January last year until now, around 540 revolutionaries and ordinary people fighting for Jal-Jungle-Zameen have been killed by the Central and State governments.

The Prime Minister and Home Minister have repeatedly declared that this campaign of killings will continue until 31 March 2026, to establish a “Maoist-free India”.

In the present situation, the party calls upon the people of the country to build a broad and strong mass movement against the fascist stance of the BJP-ruled Central and State governments, who are clearly not ready for peace.

Basavaraj (Nambala Keshava Rao) was born in 1956 in Jiyannapeta village, Palasa Mandal of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh. He came from a lower-middle-class family. From childhood, he was deeply aware of the injustices and discrimination in society. His concern for the people’s suffering naturally drew him towards revolutionary politics. He studied up to Class X in Palasa and completed his Intermediate in Visakhapatnam. Later, he joined the Regional Engineering College (REC) in Warangal and graduated in 1976 with a degree in Civil Engineering.

It was in Warangal that he first came into contact with revolutionary ideas and became actively involved in the Radical Students Union (RSU). He rose to become a leading figure in the RSU and, by 1978, had joined the CPI (ML) People’s War Party (PWP), becoming a full-time Party member. From that point on, he fully committed himself to the cause of revolution. He married Tara in 1983, a fellow revolutionary and medical practitioner who was martyred in the Koyyuru encounter in Visakhapatnam agency in 2008.

Basavaraj began his work as a member of the Hyderabad Party Committee. From 1980 onwards, he was assigned to the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) region, where he played a crucial role in organising peasants and adivasis. He later went on to work in various capacities in North Telangana, Dandakaranya, and other guerrilla zones.

He was elected to the Central Committee during the 9th Congress–Unity Congress in 2007 and subsequently to the Politburo. Following the martyrdom of Ganapathi’s wife Padma in 2010 and due to his deteriorating health, Ganapathi gradually handed over responsibility for the General Secretary post to Basavaraj. Basavaraj officially took over as General Secretary in 2018. Since then, under his leadership, the Party has continued the revolutionary movement under extremely difficult conditions.

Basavaraj was a capable strategist, an experienced military commander, and an astute Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theoretician. He played a pivotal role in formulating and advancing guerrilla warfare tactics and building guerrilla zones, particularly in the Dandakaranya and AOB regions. He guided the formation and strengthening of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), Janatana Sarkars (people’s governments), and the revolutionary mass movement in forest regions across the country. He paid utmost attention to building the Party ideologically, politically, and organisationally in line with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and Protracted People’s War.

In his long revolutionary journey spanning nearly five decades, Basavaraj survived numerous enemy offensives, betrayals, health challenges, and testing circumstances. With great humility, simplicity, discipline, and unwavering dedication, he worked tirelessly for the cause of the oppressed classes, castes, and nationalities.
Basavaraj’s martyrdom is an irreparable loss to the Indian revolutionary movement. The Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) pays heartfelt homage to him and pledges to carry forward the revolutionary path he charted.

Basavaraj, Vivek, Sridhar, Rakesh, Junaid, and all the other 27 martyrs are eternal heroes of the Indian revolution. Their dreams shall never die. Their sacrifices will inspire countless others to rise up in struggle.

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 1, June 29 - Jul 5, 2025