The Radical Youth League (RYL) was a frontal organisation 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

Naxalite Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic Eight ...

group, mainly operating in

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 ...

History

The Radical Students Union (RSU) was formed in 1974, and the Radical Youth League (RYL) in 1977. Radical Youth League units were established by revolutionaries in

in 1978 during their "Go To Village" campaigns to propagate agrarian revolution. They were banned in Andhra Pradesh, but in 2004 the state government lifted the ban to allow for peace talks. While talks were underway the People's War Group (PWG) merged with Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The Naxalites suffered a serious setback in 2005. On 17 August 2005 a ban was re-imposed on the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its frontal organisations including the Radical Youth League and the All India Revolutionary Students Federation after Congress legislator C. Narsi Reddy was killed. Bans were repeatedly reimposed, one year at a time. In August 2006 the ban was extended for a year. In August 2009 the Andhra Pradesh government extended the ban for another year. In August 2011 the ban was again extended for another year. In November 2011 it was reported that the Maoists were planning to revive the RYL and other frontal groups in Andhra Pradesh, first in forest areas and later in the plains. Tribal students would be mobilised using the issues of corruption, poor school facilities, lack of teachers and lack of job opportunities.

Incidents

On 10 January 2000 a Telecom Department engineer was killed by police in

Dharmapuri district Dharmapuri is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil-Nadu, India. It is the List of districts in Tamil Nadu, first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitting it from then-Salem district on 2 October 1965. ...

. He had allegedly joined the Radical Youth League and become an extremist. His widow protested that the "encounter" was fake. In March 2012 the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

ordered a probe by the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

into the event, saying there was prima facie evidence that the police had violated the law. The RYL was not banned in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

but the Tamil Nadu police targeted the organisation. On 24 November 2002 the police arrested twenty six people in the

of Tamil Nadu, and on 10 January 2003 they were placed under POTA by the government on the grounds that they were members of the Radical Youth League. On 26 August 2004, still being held without trial, the detainees began a hunger strike. The former judge

Rajinder Sachar Rajindar Sachar (22 December 1923 – 20 April 2018) was an Indian lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He was a member of United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and also served as a c ...

led a team of human rights activists who visited them in jail on 15 September 2004 and persuaded them to end the hunger strike. As in May 2005 they had still not been released. In February 2012 "Q" branch officials arrested a core committee member of the Radical Youth League named Manivasagam along with 25 other Naxalites. Manivasagam had been arrested in 2002 as a courier for the organisation, appeared for trial in 2008 and then escaped.

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article2627841.ece , date=15 November 2011 , title=Maoists to float new body of students in tribal areas , work=

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

, author=K. SRINIVAS REDDY , access-date=26 April 2012 {{cite web , url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4b6fe22d0.pdf , publisher=United Nations High Commission for Refugees , title=Refugee Review Tribunal , date=21 March 2007 , access-date=26 April 2012 {{cite web , url=http://indianvanguard.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/andrapradesh-ban-on-cpi-maoist-and-front-organisations-extended-for-one-more-year/#more-2085 , work=Indian Vanguard , title=Ban on CPI Maoist and front organisations extended for one more year , date=10 August 2009 , access-date=26 April 2012 Mass organisations of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Volunteer organisations in India Organisations designated as terrorist by India