Ever since the Left wing extremism was initiated by CPI (ML) leader Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal in 1967 through the Naxalbari movement in West Bengal and subsequently spearheaded by the leaders like Vempatapu Satyanarayana (Satyam) and Adibhatla Kailasam in Srikakulam and later by Kondapalli Seetharamaiah in the Telangana region, the Naxalites, now called the CPI (Maoist), suffered the worst blow this year.
At one go, 30 of their cadres, including a huge number of leaders were killed in an exchange of fire with the anti-Naxal force of Andhra Pradesh Greyhounds at Ramgarh or Ramaguda in the cut-off area of Andhra-Odisha-Border (AOB) region.
Between October 24 and 27, the Greyhounds silenced 30 of the Maoists, who included two State zonal committee members (SZCM) such as Bakuri Venkata Ramana alias Ganesh and Kistayya alias Daya, in Ramgarh. In total, two SZCMs, five divisional committee members (DCM) and eight area committee members (ACM) were killed in the exchange of fire.
This was the biggest single strike since the Maoist movement began and most importantly the exchange of fire took place in the Maoist heartland in the cut-off area.
According to the Superintendent of Police, Visakhapatnam, Rahul Dev Sharma, the area was considered to be impregnable and the police forces breached it. “The entire Maoist command on the Odisha side of the cut-off area was wiped out and sources say that the morale of the Maoists is badly down and they are still to recover,” he said.
It is learnt that Central Committee Member (CCM) Akkiraju Haragopal alias Ramakrishna alias RK was hit by a bullet on the leg in the exchange of fire and is still to recover and the Maoist think-tank is reluctant to send Chalapathi another CCM to the area to set things right, as the Tribal cadres are not keen on working under him for his ‘high-handedness’.
In a state of confusion
This has put the entire AOB region in a state of confusion. After the death of Bakuri and Kudumula Venkata Ramana alias Ravi who died of jaundice in April this year, there are no Tribal leaders in the region and the Maoists are exploring different combinations to fill the vacuum.
“Different names such as Kakarla Madhavi, Kiran who is the DCM of Pedabayalu area and Boda Anjayya alias Naveen of Korukonda area, are doing the rounds, but so far there is no confirmation,” said Mr. Rahul Dev.
Ramaguda was not the only incident that caused a setback to the Maoist movement in the Agency areas in Visakhapatnam district.
The killing of Galikonda area committee secretary Gopal alias Azad and his trusted lieutenants Anand and Kamala in Marripakalu-Palasamudram area in Koyyuru mandal on May 4 also weakened the Maoists, especially the Galikonda area committee, which was once a prominent strike force.
“The killing of CCM Kuppu Devaraj and a woman Maoist in Nilambur forests in north Kerala suggest their desperation for newer areas,” said Mr. Rahul Dev.
