Editorial statement: We condemn the murder of comrade Basavaraj!

From the editorial board of the Red Flag

On May 21, 2025, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and 26 of his comrades were murdered in a cowardly ambush by the Indian state. A wave of outrage and condemnation went through the world, hundreds if not thousands of organizations, parties and initiatives condemned this massacre. The editorial board of the Red Flag joins this outcry of indignation, we condemn the Indian state, the massacres it is causing and its war against the people. We call upon to join this outcry, to publicize this outrageous incident, to spread the word that India's rulers have blood on their hands, to support actions of protest, join them and take action!

On May 21 of this year, the leader of the Indian revolution, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), known as Basavaraj, was assassinated. Along with him, 26 other communists lost their lives in this attack. The Hindu-fascist Indian state celebrates this massacre as a great “victory”. But the truth is that this dastardly attack was also part of the war being waged against the people, to which countless people have already fallen victim. The Indian government, not so long ago courted, praised and honored by the entire political personnel of this country during a state visit to Austria, is conducting the military extermination campaign “Operation Kagaar” (Kagaar means something like “end” or “extermination”). This is focused against the revolutionary people's movement, called “Naxalites”, and especially against the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The main areas of operation of this campaign are regions where the masses are fighting particularly strongly against international corporations, against large landownership and for self-determination, areas where the revolution, the people's war led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist), is particularly strong. Many years ago, the Indian government described the Naxalites as the “greatest threat to India's internal security”. The areas in which it concentrates its bestial campaign of extermination against the revolutionary forces are particularly rich in natural resources and arable land. The Indian state is developing its murderous campaign as a war against the communists and the people in order to further secure the exploitation of India by imperialism. As murderous as the exploitation of India by colonialism, imperialism and semi-colonialism has been for centuries, the murderous campaigns of the Hindu-fascist state are equally bestial and bloodthirsty. All forces fighting against this are fighting a just and progressive struggle.

It is shocking that the Indian reactionaries have now succeeded in assassinating General Secretary Basavaraj, who was at the forefront of the struggle for a new democratic and liberated India in the hands of the people. But the Indian reaction and its international allies are rejoicing too soon if they think that they have thus defeated the revolution. Communist leaders like Charu Mazumdar and Kanai Chatterjee have been assassinated before, but the revolution continued and reached new heights over the years. It will be the same this time too, we are sure of that even in the face of this very heavy loss.

General Secretary Basavaraj was born on July 10, 1955 with the name Nembala Keshava Rao. In the 1970s, he became politicized within the student movement, where he gained his first experiences of political struggle. Arrested during clashes with the police in 1979, he was also sent to prison during these years. However, prison did not intimidate him or break him, but became a school and an impetus for him to carry out his revolutionary political activity in an even more organized, precise and determined manner. He saw that the revolutionary students had to unite with other exploited and oppressed strata and classes, that a revolutionary unity of the people against the old regime was necessary and that this unity could only be established by the communists. Therefore, as a dock worker in the early 1980s, he took up the responsibility of organizing his colleagues. He also underwent intensive training in revolutionary warfare in the 1980s. Together with his later predecessor as General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Comrade Ganapathi, he received military training from the “Tamil Tigers” (LTTE), among others. With all this experience, he became the commander of one of the first guerrilla units in East Godavari in the Dandakaranya region under the code name “Ganganna”, a region that is still one of the most important areas of the revolution, the people's war. As a guerrilla commander, he worked in the forests with the indigenous and casteless people (Adivasis) and in the fields with the poor and landless peasants. He tirelessly organized and struggled. He was personally involved in a number of the most successful and important guerrilla actions of recent decades. His outstanding qualities led him to take on ever more complex tasks, to bear ever greater responsibility for the party and the Indian revolution. Due to his immense experience, political vision and selfless attitude, he also played a leading role in the founding of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army in 2000 and in the founding of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2004, whose Central Military Commission he headed for many years. After his predecessor resigned as General Secretary of the party for reasons of age and health, he took over the leadership of the party without hesitation.

All these merits, his selfless work for the revolution and the liberation of the oppressed and exploited, gave Comrade Basavaraj's work immeasurable weight far beyond India: for countless young revolutionaries all over the world, the Indian revolution, the People's War in India became a living hope and irreplaceable inspiration; in Europe, too, a whole generation of revolutionaries and anti-imperialists grew up in the knowledge of the People's War in India. Many activities unfolded in support of this struggle. The General Secretary Basavaraj played a major role in this and his death leaves a painful void not only in India but in the ranks of all progressive, revolutionary, anti-imperialist and communist forces throughout the world. The people's war in India has suffered a severe blow with the assassination of Comrade Basavaraj, that is beyond doubt. But the Indian revolution has already experienced similar moments and has always been able to recover from such blows and carry on its struggle. So it will be this time too. The rulers of India and the imperialists behind them may be celebrating today, but tomorrow the masses of India will force them to settle the score.

The Indian revolution is a collective act of millions of the exploited and oppressed. It is an important part of an international development, and neither in India nor in other parts of the world will the working class and the peoples forget General Secretary Basaravaj in their struggles. On the contrary, he influenced and developed these struggles, he devoted his whole life to them. And he will live on in them.

Glory to the life and memory of comrade Basavaraj!

Editorial Board of the Red Flag, June 2, 2025