Mallojula Koteswara Rao (26 November 1954 – 24 November 2011), commonly known by his nom de guerre Kishenji (), was an Indian political leader who was a Politburo and Central Military Commission member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned revolutionary organization in India; and also the party's military leader. He was seen as "The Face of the Maoism in India".
Early life and family
Kishenji was born into a poor family in Peddapalli (in the district of Karimnagar, Telangana) which eked out a living on priesthood in nearby temples. His classmates remembers him as "Kotanna", and describes him "like a live wire and full of ideas during school days". In 1973, after graduating from SSR College at Warangal, he shifted to Hyderabad to study LL.B. at Osmania University. His mother, Madhuramma, used to call him by the nickname, "Koti". On a night in 1974, when he was leaving home to go underground and join the Maoists, his last words to his mother were "police are looking for me and so from today, do not even think whether I am dead or alive." Going after Kishenji, the police knocked down the Mallojula family's house, during the "search operations" in 1982. After Madhuramma heard about the demise of her son, she burst into tears, and her first words were:
His elder brother, Anjaneyulu, who is a retired employee of a cooperative bank, says that after joining the communists, Kishenji had not done any favour to his own family, but restlessly struggled for the well-being of "poor and downtrodden" people. His younger brother, Mallujola Venugopal Rao is also a Maoist cadre for over 30 years, and a Politburo member of CPI (Maoist). For over three decades, Kishenji and Venugopal did not have any communication with their mother. Kishenji married Maisa alias Sujata, who was also a Maoist, and the family is now worried about her whereabouts. Anjaneyulu asked the government to give his body to the family as the family wished to view him for "the last time" and carry out the funeral ceremony.
Early political life
Kishenji did not view the independence from British rule to be genuine freedom, rather he believed that it has only strengthened the rich ruling class and brought no meaningful change in the life of poor and tribal people. His classmates says that he had a strong aversion towards feudalism. His political career launched when he joined the Telangana movement and volunteered as a member of the Telangana Sangarsh Samiti. He subsequently founded the Radical Students Union (RSU) in Telangana. He became a full-time member of the People's War Group in 1974. He decided to go "underground" to participate in the revolution when the Emergency was declared in 1975. Prime amongst his motivations were the revolutionary writer, Varavara Rao, who launched the Revolutionary Writers' Association, and the then "political atmosphere and the progressive environment" in which he was raised. Poets like Sri Sri, Kaloji Narayana Rao and Varavara Rao were often invited by him, at his house.
The peasant movement of Karimnagar's Jagitial and Siricilla in 1977 were also overseen by Kishenji, in which more than 60,000 farmers participated, resulting in a "peasant uprising" throughout India. The uprising was viewed as anti–feudal in nature, and is evaluated to had been the substratum for the establishment of the People's War Group few years later by Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. He was viewed as the joint founder of the People's War Group, and had worked as its Politburo member.
Guerrilla life
"Soft-spoken", "well-read", "IT-savvy", and able to communicate in at least six languages including English, Telugu, Bengali, Hindi, Santhali and Oriya, Kishenji was a cadre with extraordinary qualities. He was a "media-friendly" cadre and once described himself as a "soft-hearted person, willing to forgive".
He used several assumed names, including Murali, Pradip, Prahlad, and Vimal. From 1982 to 1986, he strengthened the movement in Andhra Pradesh as the state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War, and later-on lead the Dandakaranya unit of the outfit from 1986 to 1992. From 1992 to 2000, he worked in North East, and reportedly, successfully collaborated with the rebels operating in the region.