To Nix ‘Martyr’ Tag, Telangana Cops ‘Aided’ Maoist Surrenders

Hyderabad: With the dust yet to settle over circumstances leading to the gunning down of then CPI Maoist general secretary Nambala Kesava Rao alias Basavaraju in AP eight months ago, Telangana police chose to avoid a similar situation and, as a strategic move, reportedly facilitated the surrender of Maoist top leader Tippiri Tirupati alias Devji to make sure he did not become a ‘martyr'.After a sustained and multi-pronged approach, including active use of commando force, the state police finally developed contact with Devji, believed to be the current general secretary of the banned party. After several days of deliberations with Devji, central committee member Malla Raji Reddy and a large contingent of Maoists reportedly surrendered before Telangana police, who are expected to make it official in the next few days.
As a strategy, police did not want to either gun them down or arrest them. "Killing can be exploited by some Maoist sympathisers and make the deceased a ‘martyr', with an aim to provoke gullible people to join the outfit. Similarly, the arrest of a top Maoist, again, can be projected differently with an aim to make him/her a hero. To avoid eulogising them as martyrs or heroes, the best way to make them fade in people's mind is by making them surrender," sources told TOI.Telangana police, through various sources, for the last six months, appealed to the Maoist brass to lay down arms and surrender, assuring their safety.With Operation Kagar actively being pursued by various states to eliminate Maoists, as mandated by the central govt, police of various states are combing the Karregutta area on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border to trace and eliminate Maoists by March-end.With an assurance to help them protect their lives, Telangana police, with the success of Devji and Raji Reddy's surrender, were trying to approach more cadre who are from Telangana.With this, except Muppala Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathi, almost all senior leadership from Telangana either died or surrendered. Ganapathi, who is reportedly senile, was suspected by intelligence sleuths to have escaped from India a few years ago.The large batch of members associated with Radical Students' Union (RSU), which played a key role in the strengthening of left-wing extremism (LEW) in 1980-90s, is now near history. However, Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar, who is a CC member and played a key role in Telangana state committee affairs, was not in touch with police so far.