29 Facts About Kishenji

Kishenji was seen as "The Face of the Maoism in India".

Kishenji was born into a poor family in Peddapalli which eked out a living on priesthood in nearby temples.

Kishenji's classmates remember him as "Kotanna", and describe him as being "like a live wire and full of ideas during school days".

Kishenji's 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.

Kishenji's younger brother, Mallujola Venugopal Rao is a Maoist cadre for over 30 years, and a Politburo member of CPI.

Kishenji married Maisa alias Sujata, who was a Maoist, and the family is worried about her whereabouts.

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.

Kishenji's classmates says that he had a strong aversion towards feudalism.

Kishenji subsequently founded the Radical Students Union in Telangana.

Kishenji became a full-time member of the People's War Group in 1974.

Kishenji decided to go "underground" to participate in the revolution when the Emergency was declared in 1975.

Kishenji was viewed as the joint founder of the People's War Group, and had worked as its Politburo member.

Kishenji was a "media-friendly" cadre and once described himself as a "soft-hearted person, willing to forgive".

Kishenji used several assumed names, including Murali, Pradip, Prahlad, and Vimal.

Kishenji's influence rode high in the tribal hinterland of West Bengal, often known as Jungalmahal, that borders Jharkhand.

Kishenji strengthened the ultra-leftist political party in West Bengal and rose as a momentous member of the Eastern Region Bureau of the party.

Kishenji had played a crucial part in the merger of the People's War Group with the Maoist Communist Centre of India in 2004, which resulted in the emergence of the Communist Party of India ; and he was the Central Military Commission member of the party since its formation.

Kishenji planned and executed several attacks on the State's armed forces.

In January 2010, Kishenji wrote and faxed an 8-page paper to media, in which he held Jyoti Basu as responsible for the "underdevelopment" and "resulting unrest" in the forest region districts of West Bengal.

Kishenji is a negative model of communist movement in the whole country.

Kishenji considered Bhattacharjee's strategies to be faulty and responsible for the subsequent violence in West Bengal's forest dominated territories; and even planned to eliminate him at West Midnapore, in 2008.

Kishenji was killed on 24 November 2011, in an operation by Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, assisted by over 1,000 members of the Central Reserve Police Force, who cordoned off a forested area in West Midnapore district near the Bengal-Jharkhand border.

The body of Kishenji was first taken to Jhargram hospital morgue and then to the Midnapore police morgue for post-mortem examination.

Also, maintaining the view-point that Kishenji was killed in a scripted fake encounter, Varavara Rao described the West Bengal government's actions as "fascist" in nature by pointing towards the encounters in the state, and even accused the Trinamool Congress of pressurising the doctors to declare that Kishenji was not killed in a fake encounter.

Kishenji's mother wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, requesting a juridical inquisition of his encounter.

Indeed, "right next to where his [Kishenji's] body lay on the ground is a termite hill" that "remains undamaged by all the alleged exchange of fire".

The interlocutors appointed by the government to discover the opportunities to initiate the peace process, questioned the timing of the encounter of Kishenji, highlighting the political atmosphere during that time as an excuse to their viewpoint.

Our beloved leader comrade Kishenji was caught by the police, brutally tortured and killed by the enemy with the help of coverts.

The CPI has published the biography of Kishenji, reportedly titled "Comrade Kishenji", urging the Maoist cadres to "lead the war by following the footsteps of Comrade Kotanna " rather than mourning over the demise of eminent leaders.