Why latest surrender in Telangana could mark ‘end of Maoist movement in Chattisgarh’

The Telangana DGP appealed to the remaining Maoist leaders to surrender and opt for rehabilitation. He said that Telangana’s surrender policy has been implemented in other states, too.

Several Maoists, including Barsa Deva alias Barsa Sukka, a top commander of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army Battalion 1, will surrender before Telangana police chief B Shivadhar Reddy on Saturday.

“This is the end of the Maoist story in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, which is the home of Madvi Hidma (a key Maoist commander who was killed in an encounter last year) and his dreaded lieutenant, Barsa Deva… Deva’s surrender is also the end of the Maoist movement in Chattisgarh,” Telangana DGP B Shivadhar Reddy told The Indian Express.

Deva will surrender along with his security team, as well as 18 cadres. “After Barsa Deva came under the sights of security forces, which included my Telangana anti-Maoist agencies, he agreed to surrender before me on Saturday,” the DGP said.

He explained that after the death of Hidma and the surrender of Deva, “there is no one else to carry forward violent Maoist activities”.

Deva’s surrender comes after Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Vijay Sharma met the families and mothers of both Hidma and Deva, and appealed to Deva to give himself up. Sharma said that Hidma did not heed to calls for him to surrender, leading to his killing.

Hidma and Deva are from the same village, Puvarti. Deva, a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee and an important leader in the banned CPI (Maoists), is one of the most wanted Maoist commanders and is accused of being involved in several attacks on security forces, as well as the ambush on Congress leaders in May 2013 in Sukma district.

He carried a reward of over Rs 50 lakh.

Deva’s surrender will further weaken the Maoist movement, which has been significantly weakened last year with a spate of surrenders and encounter killings. Hidma was killed in an encounter in the Maredumilli forest in the Alluri Sitarama Raju district of Andhra Pradesh.

With Deva’s surrender, very few top Maoist leaders remain underground. Senior Maoist leader Thippiri Tirupathi, alias Devuji, who is originally from Telangana and is the general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), is on the run, with security forces in Chattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh trying to locate him.