M.P. Nathanael | Basavaraju’s Death in Black Forest Op was Huge Setback to Maoists’ Movement

As many as 31 Maoists, including top leaders, were killed in the 21-day long Operation Black Forest that ended on May 11 in the Karreguttalu hills bordering Chhattisgarh and Telangana. They carried a combined reward of Rs 1.72 crores. Another 27 Maoists, including much-wanted CPI (Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju, carrying a reward of Rs 10 crores by the NIA and several states, were gunned down in the dense jungles near Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts on May 21.

Based on the input of Maoists camping in Abhujmarh, the Chhattisgarh police deployed over 1,100 personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), including surrendered Maoists familiar with the terrain, who proved to be an asset. Along with the CRPF’s elite commando unit COBRA and other forces like the BSF and ITBP, DRG personnel carried out several anti-Naxal operations, inflicting heavy casualties on the Maoists in the last few years, with the CRPF playing a pivotal role.

After cordoning the area, when the DRG personnel were combing the jungle for presence of Maoists, they established contact after 50 hours when shots were fired by the Maoists in the early hours on May 21. In the encounter that followed, Basavaraju and 26 others were killed. In a departure from their earlier practice of carrying their dead comrades with them while making good their escape, all the 27 bodies were left to be recovered by the police. A top leader like Basavaraju would normally have a strong security cordon of three layers. The fact that the DRG men could get to him serves as a pointer to the security layers having been smashed by them. Not many may have escaped. A larger strength of escapees would have chosen to carry Basavaraju’s body with them.

An engineering graduate from Warangal, Basavaraju was an astute strategist who planned attacks on the security forces, causing heavy casualties. He proved his mettle as the central military commission chief, planning and carrying out attacks on the CRPF personnel in Dantewada in April 2010, where 76 personnel were slain, and thereafter at Jeeram Ghati in May 2013, in which top Congress leaders, including V.C. Shukla, were killed.

His series of exploits opened the way for him to take over from Ganapati as CPI (Maoist) general secretary in 2017 when the latter quit the post after 25 years due to health issues.

Hailing from Srikakulam, which saw a peasant revolt in 1967-70 on the lines of Naxalbari uprising, Basavaraju was born as Nambala Keshava Rao. A B. Tech graduate from Warangal, he joined the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War Group in early 1980s. After its merger with the Maoist Communist Centre in 2004, he was given an important place in the new CPI (Maoist) and soon rose to the party’s top echelons. Known for his aggressive and ruthless stance, Basavaraju took over command of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army and led attacks on the security forces.

His education and his towering personality, along with varied skills, gave him complete sway over the Maoists’ rank-and-file. Having been trained by Sri Lanka’s LTTE extremists in planting Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), he gained IED expertise and trained others too. With his death, the Maoists will face a leadership crisis, though a few may stake their claims. It won’t be surprising if Ganapati takes over for the time being until the crisis is sorted out. At the moment, the ones to stake claim to the all-important post are Tipri Tirupati, a central committee member, Mallujola Venugopal, former Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee chief, and former Maoist spokesman Abhay.

With the Maoist outfit in complete disarray and their morale at an all-time low, the security forces must gear up their intelligence network and hit them hard. While on the run, the Maoists are likely to plant IEDs on their tracks to not only inflict casualties on the security forces pursuing them but also to slow down their advance.

Operation Black Forest, conducted in the Karreguttalu hills, has driven the Maoists to other locations in small groups in all probability towards neighbouring Telangana. With hard intelligence, they need to be located and forced to surrender or be neutralised lest they regroup and establish sanctuaries elsewhere. It is believed that Hidma, Barse and Damodar, the much-wanted top Maoist leaders, also escaped during the operation in the hills.

Their pleas for a ceasefire or peace talks need to be ignored lest they exploit the opportunity to regroup, recruit and replenish their stocks of weapons and ammunition. The appeal made to them by Union home minister Amit Shah to surrender and draw the benefits offered by the Chhattisgarh government and other states will enable them to lead a comfortable life, for else they stand to lose their lives in the encounters with the security forces. There can be no scope for talks with extremists whose ideology is to overthrow a democratically-elected government by armed revolution. Ceasefire cannot be an option too when they are at liberty to surrender and join the mainstream.

The bloodshed by the Maoists has led to the loss of thousands of lives. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, between March 2000 and May 17, 2025, there were 5,576 incidents of violence by the Maoists, in which 4,105 civilians were killed, 2,708 security forces personnel were slain and 4,816 Maoists were neutralised. The present trend of aggressive, determined and resolute operations against the Maoists presages better days ahead for the residents of the 18 districts in left wing extremism-affected states.

With villages being connected by roads, schools being opened in remote areas, health centres reaching the villagers and mobile towers installed for better connectivity, development is finally knocking at the doors of all villagers who were deprived of it for decades.