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April 27th will be remembered as yet another tragic
day in the history of the revolutionary movement in India. On this fateful day
12 comrades belonging to the CPI (ML) [People’s War] were murdered in cold blood
in the Chandragiri hills, near Koukonda village in Warangal district. Five of
the dead were women comrades.
The ghastly episode brings to one’s mind, memories
of the gory blood baths of the early 1970s when dozens of youth were caught and
shot dead in the streets of Calcutta and other parts of West Bengal by the
fascist thugs led by the then home minister of West Bengal. Today it is the
World Bank and its imperialist sponsors who have bared their fascist fangs over
the revolutionary movements in several countries such as the Philippines, Peru,
Turkey, Nepal, India and elsewhere. In India, it is their most trusted agents —
Chandrababu Naidu in AP and the BJP at the Centre — who are faithfully carrying
out the imperialist-dictated anti-people policies and, in turn, are unleashing
the worst type of suppression. The murder of the 12 comrades in Chandragiri
hills is the outcome of the conspiracy of the rulers in Hyderabad, Delhi and
far-off Washington.
The entire incident runs like a film story. It is
said that the police went on a combing operation to the Chandragiri hills basing
on information that three squads of the CPI (ML) [PW] were holding a meeting. In
the ensuing exchange of fire that was said to have lasted for over seven hours,
12 guerillas died while only one constable sustained minor injuries. Some papers
reported that the exchange of fire took place from 9.30 in the morning to 8.30
in the evening. The bodies of the dead were brought down from the hills in the
night. Some of the bodies were burnt hastily by the police without handing them
over to their relatives. Three of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
The police claimed that it was due to the fire that engulfed the guerillas, who
found it difficult to escape. The fire itself was said to be the result of a
grenade explosion.
The police story, obviously, raises several doubts:
how could the dozen comrades die without any causality on the side of the enemy,
especially after the so-called fierce exchange of fire? Why were the waiting
reporters not allowed to visit the site of the incident until night? Why were
the bodies burned by the police in such haste without a proper postmortem and
without handing them over to the relatives of the dead? Why were the faces of
some guerillas charred beyond recognition? The entire episode appears to be
shrouded in mystery.
The facts, given out later by the district
secretary of the CPI (ML) [PW] and special zonal committee member — Comrade
Ramakrishna — who had managed to escape along with his wife, Comrade Bharathakka,
(initial police reports claimed that she also died in the encounter) speak a
different story. It appears that the police came to know the exact location of
the guerillas through an informer. They surrounded the place with a huge force
and opened fire when the guerillas were having their lunch. The indiscriminate
firing from automatic weapons continued till evening. The place was set on fire
so that there was no way for them to escape. A few of the guerillas might have
been caught, tortured and shot dead. It was to cover up the bizarre nature of
these murders that the police chose to burn their bodies.
The Chandragiri hills incident is the first major
incident in North Telangana in recent times in which a dozen comrades were shot
dead. Earlier, in 1992, 13 comrades were arrested while travelling in a van in
Pagideru in Khammam district and were murdered in cold blood. If it was the
Congress(I) regime of Janardhan Reddy that committed that heinous act, now it is
Naidu’s TDP, which has bared its fascist fangs. A parallel to the Chandragiri
hills blood bath was the killing of 13 comrades in North Andhra in August 1998
when a guerilla camp at Coperdung was attacked by a huge force of police.
Among the 12 comrades who died in the incident, one
was a district committee member, one a town committee member, one an LGS
commander, one a SAC member and eight others were squad members.
We present below the details of three of the
martyrs. The details of the other eight are yet to be received.
Comrade Venkanna
Comrade Eerram Ilayya alias Venkanna alias Rajarao
hails from Mogilicharla village in Warangal district. The village was under the
influence of revolutionary politics for long and Comrade Venkanna came under the
sway of revolutionary politics since the late 1980s. He completed his
Intermediate course in Warangal and began to play an active role since 1989. He
worked hard to make the conference of the Rythu Coolie Sangham (RCS) in Warangal
in 1990 a grand success. As an Area Committee member of the Radical Youth League
(RYL) of Parkal area, he led the people in land occupation struggles in 1990 in
response to the call of the PW. He gave up his studies in 1991, became the area
secretary of the RYL and played an active role in organising the youth of
several villages.
Comrade Venkanna became a full-time cadre in 1992.
He initially became a member of the Narsampet squad and very soon gained the
confidence of others. He was promoted as a member of the Squad Area Committee
(SAC) in 1993. In 1995 he was elected as secretary of the Parkal SAC.
He became the secretary of the Narsampet SAC after
the martyrdom of Comrade Gopanna in January 1996 in the Asarelli encounter. He
was elected to the district committee in September 1996 and took up the
responsibility of guiding the squads in Palakurthi and Cheryal. He took charge
of Warangal town from 1998, which he continued until his martyrdom in April
2000.
Comrade Venkanna played a prominent role in
developing both the rural and urban movement in Warangal. He led an active
revolutionary life for over a decade and contributed enormously to the
development of the revolutionary movement in the district. The martyrdom of
Comrade Venkanna is a great loss to the revolutionary movement in Warangal and
elsewhere.
Comrade Venkanna was not only a hard worker, he
worked most ardently, at whatever work he took up. He was a courageous fighter
and led the squads fearlessly against the enemy which was evident during the two
confrontations with the police in 1997. He also led the special squad that was
set up to annihilate the notorious goonda and MCPI leader in Reballi village.
Although he was the only son to his parents, he
never showed any special sentiment towards his family in his decade long
revolutionary life. He displayed great mettle in understanding and fighting the
revisionist politics and leadership of the MCPI led by Omkar. Comrade Venkanna’s
revolutionary life serves as an example for the revolutionaries to emulate.
Comrade Shyam (Parashuram)
Comrade Shyam hails from Pydipalli village near
Warangal town. He was drawn towards revolutionary politics while doing his
science degree course at the CKM college in Warangal during 1991. He adopted
novel and creative methods of organising the students at CKM College, LB
College, and the ITI and students’ hostels. He became a member of CPI (ML)[PW]
Party in 1993 and a full timer in 1994. He was allotted the responsibility of
organising the youth of Warangal town which he carried out skillfully. He became
the commander of the suburban squad in Mogilicherla and concentrated on building
the youth organisation in Warangal town and the suburban villages. He organised
several struggles in and around Warangal in the midst of continuous police
repression. He was promoted to the town party committee in 1996.
Comrade Shyam carried out his new task of
organising the working class in Warangal and guiding the mini guerilla squad in
Mogilicherla with great zeal. He organised the workers in the unorganised sector
by taking up struggles on several issues such as the closure of the Azam Jahi
Mills, issues of saw mill workers, hamali workers and so on. The revisionist
leadership of the CPI (M)’s CITU was exposed and the workers imbued with
revolutionary politics, fought the revisionist leaders.
Comrade Shyam played a creative role in setting up
cover organisations and united front organisations. By working in the student,
youth and working class fronts, comrade Shyam acquired rich experience as an
able organiser. He also gained experience in rural work through his work in the
suburban squad. He also played an active role in military operations against the
enemy apart from being a good propagandist. Comrade Shyam’s name was selected
for inclusion in the district committee but he became a martyr before the
co-option.
Comrade Shyam’s martyrdom is a great loss to the
revolutionary movement in Warangal, especially to the urban movement.
Comrade Swapna
Comrade Swapna hails from a rich peasant family in
Kothapalli in Chityala mandal of Warangal district. She was influenced by the
revolutionary activity in the surrounding villages while she was studying in the
tenth standard. She was very much moved by the indescribable atrocities against
women; the dowry deaths, male chauvinism, patriarchy, wife beating and so on.
Whenever the squad visited her village, she took food to the squad and aspired
to join the guerillas in order to change the lot of the women.
Comrade Swapna had to fight with her parents even
to pursue her collage education. She joined the junior college in Warangal town
in 1997 upon the advice of the Party in order to work among the students. But
her association with the PW was exposed when a full time organiser belonging to
her village revealed it during police interrogation. The police tried to arrest
her but she managed to evade them and joined the Parkal squad in 1997.
Through hard work and conscious effort to
declassify herself she succeeded in winning the confidence of fellow comrades.
She was promoted to the SAC in 1998 and was shifted to the Station Ghanpur
squad. She was serving as a member of the SAC when she became a martyr in the
Chandragiri hills in April 2000.
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