Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh-born Namballa Kesava Rao was an active sportsperson in his youth and had a particular fondness for kabaddi. A highly educated man, he completed his B.Tech and M.Tech from the Regional Engineering College, Warangal, besides representing Andhra in state volleyball.
Years down the line, Rao, who added aliases like Basavaraju and Gagan, a key figure in the Indian Naxalite movement and the Supreme Commander of the CPI (Maoist) to his profile, ended up being killed in an unlikely field up north—in a fierce encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar on Wednesday.
Basavaraju, the general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), was among 27 Maoists neutralised during the operation, one of the most impactful anti-Maoist successes in recent years.
Known for his deep involvement in guerrilla warfare and explosives, Basavaraju had been on the most-wanted list of Indian investigative agencies, with a reward of Rs 1.5 crore in Chhattisgarh on his head.
Early Life And Tendency Towards Naxalism
Born on July 10, 1955, in Jiyannapet village of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, Basavaraju was drawn into the Naxalite ideology during his student years, influenced by the Srikakulam peasant movement of the 1970s.
He went on to do a B.Tech from the Regional Engineering College in Warangal. This trained engineer was also very good in sports and represented Andhra Pradesh at the national level in volleyball. His father was a school teacher.
He had joined the Maoist movement in the 1980s and was known for operating under multiple aliases, including Ganganna, Krishna, Narasimha, and Prakash. It is believed that Basavaraju went underground in 1985.
He joined the People's War Group and initially worked in the East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts. In 1987, he underwent advanced guerrilla training in the Bastar forests along with top Maoist leaders like Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishanji, Mallujola Venugopal, and Malla Rajireddy. The training was reportedly imparted by former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), focusing on ambush tactics and explosive devices.
Basavaraju was instrumental in the formation of the CPI-ML (People’s War) in 1980 and rose through the ranks to become part of its central committee in 1992.
After the 2004 merger that formed the CPI (Maoist), he was appointed secretary of the central military commission, where he oversaw armed operations and strategy.
He became general secretary of the CPI (Maoist) in 2018, succeeding Ganapathy, also known as Muppala Lakshman Rao, who was the party’s first general secretary after the merger of the People’s War Group and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in 2004.
He did not have any recent photograph on record, making him extremely difficult to track. His areas of operation mainly included Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and parts of Maharashtra. Basavaraju was known for creating guerrilla strategies for Naxal attacks and had expertise in planting IEDs.
Leading Architect Of Guerrilla Operations
Recognised as one of the key architects of guerrilla operations, Basavaraju became a prominent figure within the Maoist hierarchy. He was one of the founding members of the People's War Group, which later merged with other outfits to form the CPI (Maoist). He rose through the ranks to serve on the Central Committee and Politburo, eventually becoming the General Secretary and Supreme Commander of the party in November 2018, following the resignation of Muppala Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathi.
Basavaraju was accused of masterminding several high-profile Maoist attacks, including the 2010 Dantewada ambush in Chhattisgarh that killed 76 CRPF personnel, the 2019 Gadchiroli attack in Maharashtra, which claimed the lives of 15 security personnel, and the murder of TDP leader Kidari Sarveswara Rao in Andhra Pradesh’s Araku region. He is also believed to have orchestrated the 2013 Darbha Valley attack in which 27 people, including senior Congress leaders Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel, were killed.
In 2024, security forces intensified operations against Maoist cadres, especially in Chhattisgarh, resulting in the deaths of several Maoists. Basavaraju had been the target of multiple high-level search operations, including a massive combing effort around a suspected Maoist bunker in Karregutta on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border.
His death marks a significant blow to the Maoist movement and a major development in India’s internal security landscape. According to police officials, Basavaraju was camping in Abujhmad for at least eight years.
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