The Naxal movement has gone haywire: Usendi

The Naxal movement is today facing leadership issues, losing favour with the Tribals and is confused about its future agenda and course of action.

The Naxal movement is clearly dwindling, says Gudsa Usendi, a prominent Naxal leader who surrendered recently with his wife.

Vicky Nanajpaa reports

The Naxal movement could well be on a decline.

Pointers to this assessment come from the recent surrender of prominent naxalite leader Gummudavelli Venkatakrishna Prasad alias Gudsa Usendi before the Andhra Pradesh police along with his wife Santoshi Markam.

His interrogation has revealed that there is a clear divide among the Naxals and the movement is no longer on track.

Gudsa had surrendered citing health grounds, but the fact is that there was growing despondency among Naxal leaders, leading to a leadership crisis.

He also tells the police that for the past couple of years every expansion plan of theirs has failed and that they were even losing out on their strongholds of Chattisgarh and Jharkhand.

There were major plans to expand into Karnataka, Odisha and Maharashtra, but most of the time is spent on holding on to bastions at Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, he added.

Gudsa does admit that the movement was broken to a great extent by the respective state governments.

‘The tribals who often provided us with cover and shelter too are shying away as they are not interested in violence any more. This has hampered the support base of the Naxals a great deal and many a time one witnessed Naxals threatening the tribals who refuse support, which in turn has become a counter-productive exercise. I feel that several more leaders will surrender in the coming months,’ he said.

Gudsa further says that there is a clear divide between the People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre.

‘There was a time when they acted together, but today they are a divided force and this division has led to a halt in recruitments as even the cadres are confused about their future agenda and course of action,’ he points out.

Gudsa’s surrender has not gone down too well with the Naxals.

There is a growing concern among them that such surrenders would lead to the cadre being demoralised.

Gudsa was a very important leader who was part of the outfit for several decades and also shaped the movement on the technological front.

As part of a damage-control exercise, the Naxals have branded Gudsa as a traitor and a womaniser who was no longer wanted in the movement.

Ramanna, who used to report to Gudsa, sent out a message to the cadres stating that the latter was a man of many weaknesses; he was egoistic and ran the organisation without consulting with others.

‘In 1999, Gudsa was warned and told to get his acts right after he had an affair with a woman. He joined the movement in 1980, but left us in 1993 as he had several issues with the rest of the members,’ Ramanna claimed.