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On September 24 last, the revolutionary movement in
North Telangana suffered another grave loss with the martyrdom of Comrade Vinod
(Ramireddy), a member of the Special Zonal Committee, in a fierce encounter with
the Special Task Force (Grey Hounds) goons of AP. It is a great loss not only to
the Guerrilla Zone of North Telangana but also to the Indian revolution as a
whole.
The tragic incident took place in the early hours
of September 24 when Comrade Vinod, along with his guard, was going to answer
nature’s call in Maddimalla forest in Karimnagar district. Another three
comrades who were sleeping nearby were arrested by the police and shot dead on
the spot.
The cowardly attack by the Grey Hounds of AP was
made possible due to the tip-off provided by a renegade who had surrendered to
the enemy and led the latter to the site of the camp where the district
conference of the CPI(ML) [People’s War] of Karimnagar West was taking place.
The conference which commenced on 20th September was already in its fifth day
when the attack occurred. The enemy forces arrived stealthily on the previous
night itself and lay in wait till dawn to carry out their operation. When
Comrade Vinod first spotted the enemy forces, he and his body guard opened fire
thereby alerting the other comrades in the camp. They fell while valiantly
fighting the vastly superior enemy force and facilitated the safe and orderly
retreat of the 50-odd comrades who were in the camp.
Com. Vinod
It was almost a quarter century ago that comrade
Vinod, hailing from Karimnagar district, began his revolutionary career. He
participated actively in the anti-feudal struggles which swept like a great wave
in the countryside of Karimnagar during the later half of the 1970s. He took up
responsibility as an organiser in Nizamabad district in the beginning of the
1980s when the party decided to extend the movement to new areas. Then in 1985
he readily accepted the party’s call to strengthen the movement in Dandakaranya
so as to build a strong rear for the movement in North Telangana. After working
in the guerrilla squads for a considerable period, Comrade Vinod became a member
of the Divisional Committee of Gadchiroli Division and later its Secretary. But
due to severe health problem, he was relieved from his responsibilities in
Dandakaranya and was sent to Maharashtra in 1995 where he worked as a member of
the state committee from 1996 until mid-1999. But during this period, Comrade
Vinod repeatedly insisted that he be sent to North Telangana and expressed
confidence that he would manage the rigours of guerrilla life in spite of his
ill-health. He was sent to North Telangana in mid-1999 where he served in the
SZC for over a year prior to his martyrdom.
Popularly known as Comrade Deepak and Jagadesh in
DK, Comrade Vinod was an indefatigable worker. He had a great urge to learn and
to improve his theoretical level. His thirst for knowledge in all spheres was an
exemplary quality. It is this capacity to learn that enabled him to adjust
effectively to urban work in Maharashtra, after decades of work in the rural
backward areas of NT and DK. Born in a poor peasant family, that too belonging
to the most oppressed section of Indian society — the dalit caste — Comrade
Vinod led a hard life and faced unbearable oppression and humiliation from the
upper castes before he joined the party. Throughout his revolutionary career he
displayed utmost steadfastness and commitment to the cause never hesitating for
a moment whenever new responsibilities were entrusted to him by the party
leadership. He remained a disciplined soldier until his last breath.
Comrade Vinod evoked immense enthusiasm and
confidence among all the comrades with whom he worked or led. His mere presence
was enough to inspire the cadres and the masses and drive them to action. Always
in high spirits and facing the enemy boldly, he was a leader who played a great
role in advancing the revolutionary movement in Gadchiroli division. He never
showed any airs and mingled with the cadres very easily. He was so closely
integrated with the Gond adivasis of DK that people often mistook him for a
tribal. He adopted the tribal name of Madavi and became popular by that name
among the adivasi masses. He was highly creative and innovative in ideas. He had
immense interest in culture and wrote several songs in Gondi a language which he
learnt in a very short time after he began his work in DK.
The Indian revolution has lost an able and creative
leader who had risen from the most oppressed section of the society. The
People’s March salutes this proud son of the toiling masses of India and
hopes that many more revolutionary successors will emerge from the dalit masses
to take the place of our beloved leader.
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