In a blow to the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), its general secretary was killed in security operations in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. The elimination of Namballa Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, is perhaps the biggest blow to the insurgents since the death of Cherukuri Rajkumar, the then CPI (Maoist) spokesperson in 2010, also in a security operation. Basavaraju, who had been the head of the party’s central military commission before becoming the general secretary in 2018, had masterminded several attacks against paramilitary and police forces. His rise within the CPI (Maoist) marked the insurgents’ reiteration of its militarist strategy, to continue their “protracted peoples’ war” as against the alternative of political struggle and agitations to achieve their aims. His death — a number of Maoist personnel have been killed in the last couple of years — represents the failure of this strategy. Home Minister Amit Shah has been on record to say that the government is keen to overcome the Maoist threat by 2026 and Basavaraju’s killing would suggest a major win. The fact that the Maoists had reportedly sought peace talks, even while continuing their armed struggle, calls into question whether the Maoist leaders and activists could have been apprehended rather than eliminated. The surrender of Maoist cadres in recent days is also a case in point. But it is also well understood that the senior Maoist cadre, with roots in the People’s War naxalite movement in united Andhra Pradesh, have shown little inclination to give up their armed struggle and such “encounters” are perhaps inevitable.
In recent years, and according to the Maoists’ own admission, there has been a significant reduction in recruitment by the insurgents, with flagging support from the tribal population in south Chhattisgarh. Tribal youth, many of whom have experienced enormous suffering in the decades-long insurgency, are no longer inclined to adhere to the radical agenda of the Maoists. The group’s poor understanding of the Indian state and its complete rejection of the electoral process as a “mere facade” have found fewer takers in the forested areas that were hitherto inaccessible to the Indian government. With the government’s increased tribal welfare measures and outreach and its redoubled emphasis on defeating the guerilla warfare, the Maoists have seen an erosion of their limited military and support bases. With the death of senior leaders, the Maoist movement is surely gasping for survival, but the intensive security operations have also resulted in scores of tribal youth being killed. The government should use this situation to renew its call for peace talks to pressure the Maoists to abandon their armed struggle rather than continue the policy of “annihilation” as that could only engender fresh resentment among the tribal people.
Published – May 24, 2025 12:20 am IST