Katakam Sudarshan (died 31 May 2023), commonly known by his

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

Anand (), was an Indian politician who was a

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

member of the

Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a banned Marxist–Leninist-Maoist communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the Republic of India through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 S ...

, a

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

communist party in India.

Early life and family

Anand was born at

Adilabad Adilabad, also known as Edlawada and Eddulapuram, is a city which serves as the headquarters of Adilabad district, in the Indian state of Telangana. Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Lambadi and Gondi are the most spoken languages of Adilabad. Adilabad ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, and pursued education at the government

polytechnic college An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

, in

Warangal Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 811,844 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an . Warangal serv ...

. He worked as a teacher to financially support his higher education. He married the Adiladab district secretary of CPI (Maoist), Sadhana. She was gunned down by the police force, few years back.

Guerrilla life

Anand was one of the senior-most cadres of the ultra-leftist political party, and led the ongoing

armed struggle War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organiz ...

from northern

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

Dandakaranya Dandakaranya (), also rendered Dandaka (, IAST: ), is a historical region and the name of a forest mentioned in the ancient Indian epic ''Ramayana''. It covers about of land, which includes the Abujhmar Hills in the west and borders the East ...

, for over 30 years. He was described by Indian police as a "soft spoken" person, an "orthodox"

and a "hardline strategist". He was prominently known for chalking out the policies of the party in the political arena, and upheld that

political power grows out of the barrel of a gun ''Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun'' () is a phrase which was coined by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. The phrase was originally used by Mao during an emergency meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on 7 August 1927, ...

. After the completion of his studies, Anand joined the radical leftists in 1975; and in 1979, he shifted to

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

. In the 1980s, he became a member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

(People's War Group), founded by

Kondapalli Seetharamaiah Kondapalli Seetharamaiah (; 1914—12 April 2002) was a senior communist leader and Maoist organizer in India. Early life Kondapalli Seetharamaiah was born into a rich family in Lingavaram village, Nandivada mandal of Gudivada revenue divisi ...

. He was famous for his "ruthless guerilla warfare tactics" and was designated the duty of training the cadres in "

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

", and planning "military precision strikes" on the armed forces, in the territory of Chhattisgarh. Anand was a Central Military Commission and Politburo member of CPI (Maoist), and was believed to be heading the Eastern Regional Bureau of the party, after

Kishenji Mallojula Koteswara Rao (26 November 1954 – 24 November 2011), commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Kishenji (), was an Indian maoist leader who was a Politburo and Central Military Commission member of the Communist Party of India (Maois ...

's elimination in the ongoing Maoist movement in India. He also worked as the chief of the Central Regional Bureau of the CPI (Maoist). Responding on a question about the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

's " Operation Green Hunt" during an interview, he said to journalists, "We have been in the middle of a cruel, bitter war for several years." In 2010, he told media personnel that out of the 45 members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), 8 had been arrested and 22 had been killed by the agencies of the Indian government. He was also reportedly working on the task to attempt stalling the "Operation Green Hunt". A senior police officer once told ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' that "Sudarshan was not a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

like Azad and was against his party's initiative to hold talks with the government."

Death

Anand died of a heart attack on 31 May 2023.Maoist leader Katakam Sudarshan passes away
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References

External links

International Campaign Against War on the People in India

People's War in India: Interview with Comrade Anand of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
:Video
Man behind the Dantewada attack
''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sudarshan, Katakam 20th-century births Year of birth missing 2023 deaths Anti-revisionists Communist Party of India (Maoist) politicians Indian guerrillas Naxalites People from Adilabad district

Early life and family

Guerrilla life

Death

See also

References

External links