The recent arrest of alleged Maoist sympathisers in the State has once again turned the spotlight on police crackdown on the nexus between student groups and the banned CPI (Maoist).
Last week, Jogulamba-Gadwal police arrested three persons, including Osmania University PG College assistant professor Kanti Jagan and Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika State committee member Puliga Nagaraju. They were accused of having links with the banned CPI (Maoist) and recruiting cadre for the party.
This despite the Telangana police claims that Maoist presence is almost absent in the State and much of the activity exists in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
“Though the arrests were made in Hyderabad, the accused were working as overground cadre for Jagdalpur cadre in Bastar and were not planning much activity in Telangana,” said the official.
When asked about the alleged student organisation operating as front of the banned Maoist party, the police top brass explained that ideological torch-bearers tasked with furthering their cause had been searching for young talent in universities across the State, which were breeding grounds and recruitment banks for the extremist movement.
“With the Left student body movement not so significant in Telangana, at least after bifurcation, they are trying to look for young leadership skills among the vibrant university students, both Central and State. But, the young recruits could not adjust to the forest and are coming back to lead a normal life,” said the official.
For decades, Osmania University and Kakatiya University have been quite often on the radar of the police for similar activities. In fact, the present top leaders of the CPI (Maoist) were recruited from the colleges and universities, said the official.
The official said the entire movement had become directionless with no right people to pursue it and the top leadership ageing and no longer in a position to lead the extremist movement. “They have failed to build the second-rung leaders, due to ‘trust factor’ and creating the lower level leadership has become a challenge for them,” he said. In September 2015, two Maoists — Sruthi alias Mahitha (23), a native of Waddepally, Hanamkonda, and an engineering graduate, and Vidyasagar Reddy alias Sagar (32) — were killed in an exchange of fire with the police in thick forests of Rangapuram village.
