Harassment of non-tribal cadre eroded Maoists’ base in Andhra Pradesh, says DGP

Of the 48 members, 18 Maoists are operating in Andhra Pradesh, K.V. Rajendranath Reddy said

The killing of tribal people after branding them as police informers and the harassment and suppression of the Dalam members hailing from various tribal groups are the prime reasons behind the Maoists losing base in Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring States, said Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) K.V. Rajendranath Reddy.

“The efforts of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) of the CPI (Maoist) to convert the cut-off area into a guerrilla war zone have fallen flat,” he said.

“At present, there are 48 members of the Andhra Pradesh cadre in the CPI (Maoist). While 18 of them are in Andhra Pradesh, the remaining are working at various levels in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Telangana,” Mr. Reddy told The Hindu.

Mr. Reddy further said that the Maoists who had surrendered in the last few months admitted that the ideology of the CPI (Maoist) was fast fading and that many tribal leaders and Dalam members left the movement due to the “stepmotherly treatment and harassment by the leaders of the upper caste”.

A surrendered Maoist had said he joined the movement as Adivasis were being suppressed, but was bewildered on seeing the exploitation of the tribal people by the CPI (Maoist).

Top Maoist leaders such as Chikkudu Chinna Rao, Jalandhar Reddy and Killo Raju, who had surrendered, confirmed that tribal Dalam members were being harassed by the upper caste leaders in the party.