Maoists can perish, but ideology won’t die. Dropped gun, not struggle: Bhupathi

TOI InterviewGadchiroli: Surrendered Maoist ideologue Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupathi in an exclusive interview with TOI at Gadchiroli police headquarters on Thursday, conceded the Maoist guerrilla movement may perish in face of the state's aggressive drive to wipe out leftwing extremism, but the ideology won't die.
"No, it's not the end of the road. The Maoist ideology may resurface in a different avatar or identity as social inequalities and exploitation of downtrodden continue. "Yeh naam ‘Maovad' badal jayega, koi aur naam se jana jayega (the name Maoism may not exist, but it may emerge in another form)," Bhupathi told TOI.While Bhupathi abandoned armed struggle against the state, he insisted the underlying ideology remains alive and relevant. "I dropped the gun, but certainly not the ideology," he declared. "I want to carry forward the struggle peacefully in the public domain under a constitutional mandate. I had to surrender and come out in the open to continue my struggle. I have to carry forward the ideology, my vision and to work," said Bhupathi, adding he joined the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) to fight against social injustice, inequality, and exploitation.He admitted murders of tribals backfired on the movement, like the killing of a civilian, Baby Madavi. "At times, the CPI (Maoist) brass took wrong decisions and failed to read the ground situation. Internal village disputes would send wrong inputs and trigger mindless bloodshed. We faced nationwide condemnation and protests," said Bhupathi. On blocking development and opposing basic infrastructure of roads, bridges, and mobile towers, Bhupathi stated it was usually directed to protect natural resources of tribals.After four decades in the PLGA, Bhupathi laid down arms before chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in September 2025 with 61 other cadres in a historic mass surrender in Gadchiroli, paving way for the surrender of another 500 cadres in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh soon after. Bhupathi admitted that "Maoists underestimated the power of the Indian state, a tactical miscalculation that proved costly and accelerated its decline". The movement crumbled because of poor leadership which failed to evolve with the times, he told TOI.On the collapse of the Marxist-Leninist ideology in India and elsewhere, Bhupathi pinned the blame on rigidity. "In India, the leadership failed us. One should understand social and political science. When changes take place in society, one has to change with the times to surge ahead. Unfortunately, CPI(Maoist)'s vision was unilateral," he said.Revealing internal dissent, Bhupathi said he warned the party as early as November 2024 and submitted a proposal to disband military struggle. "I told the party that a military solution was taking us down, but it refused to mend ways. However, the majority of comrades were with me, while the minority resisted. And this faction remained holed up in the jungles. I told my comrades to come out and take the struggle ahead in a different way in contemporary society," said Bhupathi.On wife Tarakka's surrender ahead of him, Bhupathi stated there was a phase when the party was clueless about the future and security of ailing and ageing cadres. "We did not know where to shelter them. It was their decision to surrender," said Bhupathi. "In 2003, the Telangana movement was over. The Andhra Pradesh chapter ended by 2005. The Bengal movement too nosedived. By 2009, we reached stagnation in the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh zone. In the next 15 years, it wrapped up in the rest of the country, leaving the campaign alive in south Bastar and parts of Dandakaranya. Here too, it was sheer military strength. Now, the party is over," said the former Maoist. Bhupathi referenced the Red manifesto's introduction by Karl Marx to underline the ideology's enduring nature despite armed setbacks.On the alleged rumours of his surrender as a fallout of the rift with Thippiri Tirupati alias Devji and dissatisfaction after the latter's elevation as general secretary after neutralisation of Basavaraju, Bhupathi claimed no one was appointed in his post, and no election was held. "As per the party's decision, I headed to Odisha and Devji was sent to south India. My surrender had nothing to do with my equation with anyone in CPI(Maoist)," he said, reiterating his appeal to remaining cadres to surrender. "The Karegutta 2.0 operation brings more bad news. Still, there is time, armed cadres should march out of the forests and join the mainstream to continue their fight against injustice in a constitutional manner," he said.