Maoist leader Sudarshan Kattam - left, press release by the Maoist -right
Considered as one of the most influential cadre of the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist), top Maoist leader Sudarshan Kattam (69) aka Anand died after he suffered a heart attack in the Maoist stronghold of South Bastar in Chhattisgarh on May 31, read a press release of the banned Maoist outfit.
Sudarshan was suffering from various alignments including Chronic Bronchitis, high blood pressure, blood sugar and died after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday afternoon May 31, read a press release issued by the central committee (CC) of the CPI Maoist.
Sudarshan a resident of Bellampalle village of Telangana was a member of the Maoist Central Committee and the Polit Bureau, the top decision making body of the Maoists. In the press release dated June 2, Maoist spokesman Abhay, while paying tribute to the extremist leader made an appeal to the masses to observe a mourning for him from June 5 to August 3.
Popular as Ananda, Sudarshan Kattam had joined the extremist group in the early 80s, when the naxal movement was gaining momentum in states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra pradesh. He joined the PWG (People’s War Group) later to be known as CPI Maoist, in 1974 and spent over five decades in the banned outfit.
He was appointed as a general secretary of the newly created North Telangana Special Zonal Committee (NTSZC) of the PWG in the year 1995. Sudarshan rose to the national limelight after he became only the second Maoist leader, who interacted with the media after taking the charge of the Maoist zonal division.
Sudarshan was appointed as a CC member in 2001 and then to the Polit Bureau in the same year, he played a crucial role in chalking out the regional bureaus after the PWG merged with the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form the CPI (Maoist) in 2004.
In 2004, he had been assigned with the role of secretary of the Central Regional Committee of the CPI Maoist, a position he held till 2017. After 2017, Sudarshan was working as the media spokesperson of the CC. As per a PTI report, quoting Additional Director General of Police (Naxal Operations) Vivekananda, the government had declared a reward of Rs 1 crore on Sudarshan’s head.
Leadership crisis for the Ultras
It is to be noted that with the death of Sudarshan Kattam, the banned Maoist outfit has so far lost three of its Polit Bureau and CC members due to illnesses within a span of two and half years.
Earlier another Polit Bureau member Ramakrishna alias Hargopal also died after a prolonged illness in the Dandakaranya region of Chhattisgarh in October 2021. It was reported then that Ramkrishna, who led the talks between the ultras and the Andhra government in 2004, was suffering from Pneumonia.
Ramakrishna was the chief advisor of the Andhra Orissa Special Zonal Committee (AOSZC) and was associated with the banned outfit for more than 4 decades. A mechanical engineer Ramakrishna was considered to be an expert in explosive making.
Earlier in January 2021, another senior member of the Maoist top brass and a rewardee of Rs 40 lakh Yapa Narayanan aka Haribhushan, also died after testing positive for COVID-19. Hari Bhushan was the secretary of the Telangana state committee of the Maoist, he was also among a few tribal leader who rose to the ranks and was appointed in the CC.
It has been reported that all of these Maoist top brass members died due to unavailability of proper medical care in one of the remotest forest zones of the country. Though fighting with the ailing alignments of their first-rung leaders is not the only issue being faced by the Maoist group, the banned outfit in recent years has also suffered setbacks due to arrests and surrenders of its top cadres in the central-eastern zone.
Earlier the Jharkhand police in a special operation had arrested Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da along with his wife Sheela Marandi from a toll plaza in Saraikela of Jharkhand in November 2021.
Kishan Da, a resident of Kolkata is considered to be the second in command after Keshawrao Basavraj in the proscribed CPI Maoist, he along with her wife was the member of the CC of the Maoist group. Kishan Da at the time of his arrest, was also acting as the eastern regional bureau chief of the Maoist.
He was considered as the man behind the merger of the PWG and MCC to form the mighty CPI Maoist, which once had its footprints in around 180 districts of the country.
Surrender of the top guns on ground
Apart from the crisis in the central leadership, the Left Wing Extremist outfit in the central eastern part of the country has also suffered a huge dent to the operational squads on ground after back to back surrenders of their trusted commanders on ground.
The list includes top names like Duryodhan Mahto alias Mithilesh Singh, Aman Ganjhu, Naveen Yadav and Indal Ganjhu, all top commanders of the banned outfit in the central eastern state of Jharkhand and adjoining Bihar.
While, Mithilesh at the time of his surrender, was acting as the regional commander of the banned outfit. Aman Ganjhu was part of the regional committee of the banned outfit when he turned up before the authorities to surrender.
In addition to these surrenders, the security forces have also managed to nab around 1300 cadres of the outlawed outfit in the last three years forcing them to retreat from their three decades old stronghold like Budha Pahad.
Though despite the fact that the forces have turned the tables in the central eastern states like Bihar and Jharkhand, the Maoist party still holds an area equivalent to around 5000 sq km under it’s illegal control in the Maoist affected zones of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra pradesh.
However, in recent few years after the current central government gave a nod to launch a strategic major counter insurgency offensive even in the regions considered as the Maoist stronghold, the ever growing presence of the security forces in these remote terrain has left the Maoists feeling the heat in their own bastion.
Above all the biggest concern for the Mao’s men is to tackle the issue pertaining to the leadership of the outfit given the fact that there is no second-rung leadership available to carry forward the dying moment. The demise of Sudarshan Kattam has added another serious worry to the already worsened state of the Extremist outfit leadership crisis.
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