One of India’s most wanted Naxal leaders, Nambala Keshav Rao, also known as Basavaraju, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh. He was among 30 Naxals neutralised in a joint operation led by the District Reserve Guard (DRG) in the dense Abujhmad forests – a Naxal stronghold.
Who Was Basavaraju, ‘What’s Next For Maoists After Basavaraju’s Killing
Why In News
- One of India’s most wanted Naxal leaders, Nambala Keshav Rao, also known as Basavaraju, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh. He was among 30 Naxals neutralised in a joint operation led by the District Reserve Guard (DRG) in the dense Abujhmad forests – a Naxal stronghold.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the operation “a landmark achievement in the battle to eliminate Naxalism“. He called Nambala Keshav Rao the “backbone of the Naxal movement”, adding that it was the “first time in three decades of Bharat’s battle against Naxalism that a general secretary-ranked leader has been neutralised by our forces”.
Who Was Nambala Keshav Rao?
- Nambala Keshav Rao, the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), has been part of the Naxalite movement since the late 1970s and was one of its most feared strategists. He carried a bounty of Rs 1.5 crore and was wanted in connection with several deadly attacks on security forces across multiple states. A native of Jiyyannapet village in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district, Nambala was the son of a school teacher. He studied engineering at Warangal Regional Engineering College (REC) before being drawn into student activism in the 1980s.
- After being arrested during a student union protest in 1980, he went underground and joined the naxals. Over the next four decades, Rao rose through the ranks and became known for his meticulous planning, ruthless ambushes, expertise in jungle warfare and making IEDs. Security officials believe he was the mastermind behind the 2010 Dantewada attack, one of the deadliest ever on Indian forces, in which 76 CRPF jawans were killed in Chhattisgarh.
- In 2018, he replaced Ganapathy (Muppala Lakshman Rao) as the head of the Maoist Central Committee. His elevation marked a more aggressive phase for the group, with Rao believed to be behind several high-profile attacks, including the killing of TDP MLA K Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Sivari Soma in Andhra Pradesh the same year. Basavaraju’s promotion marked the first leadership change in the outfit in 14 years. Ganapathy, the founding general secretary after the merger of the People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre, is believed to have fled to the Philippines.
- Basavaraju, meanwhile, was not only the party’s top leader but also a Politburo member, part of the Standing Committee, Central Committee, and an editorial board member of the party’s publication Awam-e-Jung.
-  At the time of his death, he carried a reward of ₹2.02 crore on his head, one of the highest for any Maoist leader. His death may mark the beginning of the end of the decades-long insurgency, potentially aligning with Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s target of ending Maoist violence by March next year.
- Despite the massive bounty, Rao managed to remain elusive for decades. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had no recent photographs or confirmed details about his age.
- His death marks a significant blow to the CPI (Maoist), especially in Chhattisgarh and surrounding states, where he helped strengthen the group’s operational grip. Security forces say his absence could disrupt Naxal communication and chain of command in the short term.
