Kishenji was a prime target of joint-security operations against Maoists
For many, the figure of a man, the face wrapped in a coarse red towel, dressed in battle fatigues and a loose shirt, flaunting an AK-47 on his right shoulder, with his back to the camera is the face of the Maoist movement in West Bengal.
Communist Party of India (Maoist) Polit Bureau member Koteshwara Rao, more famous as Kishenji, was the leader of the stealthy guerilla operations in the forests of the Jangal Mahal region, but was equally adept as the spokesperson for the cause.
Kishenji will perhaps be best remembered since the occasion he released Atindranath Dutta, officer in charge of the Sankrail police station, who was abducted by Maoists in an audacious attack on the station in October 2009, in exchange for bail for 14 tribal women.
Shortly before he went underground, Kishenji regularly interacted with journalists over telephone and even held a press conference, deep in the forests in the dead of the night, with television cameras rolling.
Notorious reputation
With the launch of joint-security operations against the Maoists in the Jangal Mahal region in June 2009, Kishenji was among the prime targets. But he soon acquired notoriety after giving them the slip every time.
In an encounter in the Hatilot forest area in March last year, Kishenji was believed to have been seriously injured and reports suggested that he had moved out of West Bengal, leaving Sashadhar Mahato in charge of military operations here. While reports poured in of his movements in Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam, the death of Sashadhar Mahato in an encounter in March this year may have forced his return.
Kishenji, born in a village in Andhra Pradesh over 50 years ago, was among the founders of the People's War Group there in 1980.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a member of its Polit Bureau and was put in charge of operations in the Telangana region.
In the 1990s, Kishenji moved to Bihar and went on to emerge as the most prominent Maoist leader in eastern India. He is believed to be among the prime movers of the proposal to merge the People's War Group with the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), which led to the formation of the CPI (Maoist) in 2004.
Kishenji, known as both a shrewd marksmen and a master strategist, was the brains behind several important Maoist attacks, including the raid on a camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) at Silda in Paschim Medinipur district on February 15, 2010. Twenty-four personnel of the EFR were killed in the raid and 47 weapons from the camp's arsenal looted in the attack.
Keywords: Maoists, Kishenji death, Left wing extremism, Koteshwara Rao
it is a war. kishenji was a dedicated soldier. salam. it may take millions of lives. but revolution must continue.
"A real ill-literate is a person who can't feel and show compassion to others". I agree with @sathya most people who are well off, act hypo-critic and are busy selfishly living there lives lavishly, thereby creating a "social chaos".if one can't help hundred,at-least he can help one needy person in terms of education, health or anything else. We got to reduce disparity between rich and poor. if every person is provided basic facilities and make him busy with his own life, who will be attracted to this kind of violent revolutions?.
While the path taken maybe wrong, India needs to understand that a growing gap between the urban rich and the rural poor is something not to be ignored! A SW engineer makes about 2 to 3 lakhs a month, a villager maybe 2 to 3 thousand a month ! this kind of gap is not sustainable and needs to be adressed immediately!
death of kishan jee is death of comman and poor people of india.
At least now the Maoist party should question it self about its path of violence.For theoretical purpose the Marxism,Leninism and Maoism may be good. But the so called communist countries like Russia and China have changed their path according to present times.Any ism may be relevant at that time only.one should amend according to the changes take place in the society.What they have achieved by remaining in the forest and distanced from the society.Lot of blood is shed on either side.Party should rethink its line is correct or not.One cannot bring change the at the point of gun.If they achieved it is only out of fear, but not attracted by the Marx or Lenin or Maoism. The leaders who talk of bringing a neo democratic revolution are blasting schools, rly.stations, roads etc.Because they fear once the administration reaches the people there will be no place for them. Their claim of liberation of Dandakaranya zone by adopting jungle law is not real freedom. see the realities taking place.
It is proved long back that communism and socialism do not bring prosperity to any nation. China and Russia have abandoned their faith in socialism three decades ago. Some ignorant still follow the path of mad rabble rousers in backward regions of India and other poor countries. Kishenji might have thought that he had nothing to lose by instigating unrest in the name of social justice. But he lost his most precious possession, life.
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