General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) killed in a clash with special forces

On 21 May, the special forces (police, commandos, counter-insurgency militias) of Modi’s neo-fascist regime attacked a meeting of Maoist cadres in the forests of Abujhmarh in the state of Chhattisgarh, the heartland of the People’s War waged for almost 60 years by the Maoists of the PCI(M) and its predecessors. During the skirmish 27 Maoist cadres were killed (some of them, unarmed, were killed in cold blood after being taken captive). Among the dead was Comrade Basavaraj (alias of Nambala Keshava Rao), General Secretary of the Party since 2018. Regional and family sources suspect that he was taken alive before being executed under cover of a staged fake shoot-out.

Since early 2024 until March 2026, Modi’s neo-fascist regime has set itself the aim of eliminating the Maoist movement and the People’s War, the ‘main enemy from within’, and has dedicated considerable military resources to achieving this with the Operation Kagaar led by the sinister Ministry of Home Affairs, Amit Shah. In the first three months of 2025, 140 comrades have been killed in the state of Chhattisgarh and the attack on 21 May is only the continuation of a vicious elimination offensive against both the civilian population and the People’s War squads along lines similar to Peru in the 1980s and 90s.

Let us not forget that imperialist France is a faithful ally of the neo-fascist Indian regime and that all the French bourgeoisie, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, are delighted with the massive arms sale, especially Rafale fighter jets. Like attracts like, and this sheds light on the ‘democratic’ nature of our own exploiters and the lengths they will go to when their power is threatened.

Nambala Keshava Rao (Basavaraj) was 72 years old, born in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Even as a student, he took an active part in the struggle of the Indian people, young people and the indigenous peoples. He soon went underground and in 2001 became head of the Central Military Commission of the CPI(ML) People’s War and then of the PCI(M) before becoming its General Secretary in 2018, taking over from the former Secretary and founder Ganapathy, having been a member of the Political Bureau for 25 years.

It is serious blow for the Party who has lost a feared military strategist and a political leader who gave the PCI(M) great authority in the international Maoist movement and the debates within it.

Modi’s neo-fascist regime celebrates this massacre and is sure to commit others, but the People’s War has survived in India for 60 years. This is not the first time that the Maoist movement in India has lost a key leader. Nor is it the first time that the ruling classes have rejoiced. But even the most brutal repression cannot silence revolt, all the more so when it is led by the Maoist People’s War. Other leaders will arise again and again until the revolution is victorious.

OCML Voie Prolétarienne honours the martyrs of the People’s War who have fallen for the revolution in India !

Naxalbari will never die !
Long live the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Long live proletarian internationalism !