After a gap of almost two decades, the movement of the banned Left Wing Extremist (LWE) outfit, CPI (Maoist), is at its lowest ebb in the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) region this year.
Once known as the Maoist hotbed after Chhattisgarh, the LWE movement in the region is now a shadow of the past.
Revival efforts
But the lull in the hotspot is not to the liking of the Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist). Sources say that the Central Committee members are not happy with the waning of the movement in the AOB, and have been asking the leaders of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) to re-enter the area and regain its lost ground at least in some of the areas.
The year 2023 has been bad for the Maoists in the region. From an initial strength of about 500 cadres and 1,500 militia members, dominating at least 18 of the 22 mandals in Alluri Sitharama Raju district, the strength has dropped to below 20 cadres and about 100 militia members.
More importantly, almost all the top surviving leaders, including the chief of AOBSZC, Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, have moved to safer places in Chhattisgarh. They are said to be taking shelter in the south Bastar area of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh.
Apart from a few surrenders and arrest of a couple of small-time leaders or members, there is hardly any Maoist activity in the region this year.
The only notable development was the unearthing of a few primitive booby traps in Chintoor mandal of ASR district by the CRPF and the combing operations of the elite anti-Nnaxal force of Andhra Pradesh.
“There is practically no Maoist movement in the AOB region, especially in the once hotbeds such as Munchingput, Pedabayalu, Chintapalli, G.K. Veedhi and G. Madugula mandals. The only place where they are trying to make some inroads is in the Chintoor and Rampachodavaram mandals,” says Superintendent of Police, ASR district, Tuhin Sinha.
Chintoor and Rampachodavaram, which were a part of East Godavari before the reorganisation of districts, border Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, and the Maoists still hold considerable presence in that State.
AOBSZC ultimatum
As per sources, the AOBSZC leadership has been given an ultimatum to infiltrate and regain some of the lost ground. It is understood that leaders such as Uday, Aruna, Suresh, and Jagan, alias Kakuri Pandana, have been told to establish their contacts and move into the AOB region before the ensuing general elections in 2024.
Moreover, the leadership of the South Bastar Divisional Committee and the local guerrilla squad members, where the AOB leaders are reportedly holed up with about 40-odd cadres, are finding it difficult to feed and maintain them with the limited resources that they have at their disposal.
They are trying to move in through the tri-junction area of Kalimela (Odisha), Chintoor (ASR district) and Sukma (Chhattisgarh), but are finding it difficult due to the presence of the elite forces from the three States such as Greyhounds, CRPF and SOG (Special Operation Group of Odisha).
Ramaguda encounter
The presence of the Maoists started to decline with the encounter at Ramaguda in AOB in October 2016. The Greyhounds had nearly wiped out the entire leadership of the then dominant Malkangiri-Koraput-Visakhapatnam Border Special Zonal Committee (MKVBSZC) leadership, which included leaders such as Bakuri Venkata Ramana, alias Ganesh, Kistayya, alias Daya, and Prithviraj, alias Munna (son of late Maoist Central Committee member Ramakrishna, alias RK). About 31 Maoists were killed in one single encounter.
Later, in June 2021, six top leaders such as Ashok and Ranadev were gunned down by the Greyhounds at Teegalametta in Koyyuru mandal of AOB.
The encounter was followed by a steady stream of surrender of top tribal leaders such as Sudheer and arrest of Kora Nageswara Rao. Unable to bear the heat, leaders such as Uday, Aruna and Jagan had fled to Chhattisgarh, leaving a void in the region for the last two years.
This has almost finished the Militia network, as the militia members thrive only when the armed rebels are around them.
‘Ideology turns irrelevant’
“Now, they have lost the militia network. The ideological movement has become irrelevant for the tribals, as development is reaching them in the form of welfare schemes and jobs. Today, we have laid over 1000-km of road and over 200 cell towers have come up. The Recognition of Forest Rights (RoFR) has given the tribal people the right to own land, and that has been a game-changer,” says Andhra Pradesh DGP K.V. Rajendranath Reddy.
There is no way the Maoists can rake up the movement again and the ground is no longer fertile. Moreover, area domination by the security forces has become a key hindrance for their comeback.
But the security forces are keeping their fingers crossed, as they (Maoist) may try to make their presence felt using their action squads.
