JOIN USThe reported killing of Kishenji in an encounter in a forest in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal, said Reddy, one of the first to be trained under Kishenji, was worrisome for the movement as a whole, as the movement could be faced with a dearth of leadership. “Now, there are only two to three leaders like Ganganna and Keshav Rao in AP, who are also Kishenji’s contemporaries. But none can replace him,” he said.
Reddy, who has retired from active Naxalism and lives at Penukonda near Puttaparthi, rose in the Naxal ranks to become the chief courier to Seetharamaiah, then president of the Central Committee of Maoist Party, between 1982 and 1989.
He was responsible for Seetharamaiah’s security and had conducted operations in Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad and Madras.
Reddy underwent arms training for three months under Kishenji in the Dandakaranya forest that stretches across Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh in 1979. “No leader had his charisma. I have interacted with several of the Maoist leaders, but few could match his abilities,” Reddy reminisced.
“In the 1980s, he decided to split from us and support Ganapati’s faction. This eventually saw him leave AP, leaving the state’s movement to suffer the loss of a great leader,” said Reddy. Although the Maoists were active and carried out high profile actions, of late there reports that recruitments had begun to decline.
“There were several operations carried out to sustain the movement, but there needed to be a leader like Kishenji,” Reddy said.
Lack of quality leadership eventually had its impact on the failure to extend the Red Corridor to places that the movement wanted. “It is in this backdrop that I say that the movement, especially in AP, is struggling, and Kishenji’s loss will affect the morale of the people.”
Further, describing Kishenji’s personality, Reddy said: “Why he was such a successful leader is because of his ability to connect to people. There has never been a meeting with him where he has not inquired about my family.” And this love for people and the willingness to at any cost to uphold their rights, Reddy said: “Saw Kishenji stay connected with the movement even as a lot of us, including some of his close contemporaries, quit. There was no let-up in his commitment.”