On 2nd May 2001, Com. Venkatrao, Guntur District leader of our Party was martyred at the hands of goonda elements. CPI(ML)-New Democracy pays homage to this sincere and brave soldier of Indian revolution.

Com. Venkatrao was born on 1st October 1968 at Chinakakani village in Mangalagiri Mandal in a poor peasant family. His father was a worker at a cinema theatre in Mangalagiri. Communist politics had a wide influence in this district and both his parents were sympathizers of the movement.

Com. Venkatrao studied upto intermediate in a local college. Initially he was an active participant in all social activities of his caste’s organizations. As his understanding evolved, he became an active member of the RCS and eventually a party member. In 1987, he was made a member of Mangalgiri SDLC. Within a short time he extended the work of the organization to Penumaka and Thadepalli Mandals. Recognizing his leadership qualities, the party shifted him to Prattipadu SDLC area, where again he won recognition and people’s affection. He participated in the party’s district conference in 1994 for the first time and he was elected to the District Committee.

In 1997, Com. Venkatrao also became the President of the RCS District Committee and its General Secretary in 2000. By this time he was also a Secretariat member of the Party’s District Committee. In 2000 itself, he also became the divisional Secretary of the Party’s newly formed Guntur Division Committee. His dedication to the cause of revolution and his sincerity made him a leading cadre in the area, and also became the cause of his contradictions with the mafia gang of Angadi Chennaiah, Doopati Apparao and Gurramm Veeraswamy. The last is a branded goonda and is a member of CPI. The three joined hands to eventually kill Venkatrao.

At the time of his death, Com. Venkatrao was only 33 years old. His wife always stood by him in his political activities, and she, along with three children has survived him.

A notable feature of Com. Venkatrao’s political life was the attention he paid to study. He studied history and party literature carefully. In political classes he made his own notes, and never hesitated to get his doubts cleared. He studied the literature of all other organizations; he always concentrated on the differences between CPI, CPI(M) and our party’s positions on various issues which gave him clarity about our political line. He clearly opposed caste organizations and caste politics as alternatives for people. Even within the organization, he opposed such trends. This brought him into contradiction with Angadi Chennaiah and Doopati Apparao, while they were in the party.

Leader of Mass Movements

Com. Venkatrao played a crucial role in the struggle of the workers of Krishna Cement Factory. He opposed encroachments by housing sites of areas around Mangalagiri. He played a prominent role in the anti-arrack movement of 1990s and also built a mass movement at Prattipadu on irrigation canal issue. He lent active support to the Guntur Mirchiyard workers’ struggle. Along with other leaders, he played a role in the struggle to occupy temple lands at Palnadu.

When Chenaiah was exposed and expelled from the Party, Com. Venkatrao worked hard to keep up the District’s movements and the Party’s work. He extended his work to Bapatla area.

Several unwanted trends having started surfacing to some extent among our cadres, the Party issued several circulars for recognizing and rectifying these trends. Com. Venkatrao took the circulars seriously and he made strident criticism of wrong trends. This exposed Chennaiah. In 1993, the State Party centre issued a circular to Guntur District Committee and Com. Venkatrao followed the circular’s guidelines in the internal struggle with Chennaiah. In 1995, he pointed out discrepancies while auditing Chennaiah’s accounts. In short, he waged uncompromising struggles against Chennaiah’s wrong trends and the damage they were causing to the Party.

This year, Com. Venkatrao participated extensively in May Day celebrations, also opposing hoisting of May Day flags the mafia leaders like Chennaiah. On 2nd May he was brutally murdered by them.

The news of Com. Venkatrao’s murder spread all over the state by the night of 2nd May. Leaders of our organization and other revolutionary organizations reached Mangalgiri town by 3rd May morning, as did thousands of tearful local people. Bandh was observed in the town, and after the postmortem, the body was kept at Ambedkar Centre where thousands accumulated to pay homage. A condolence meeting was held there attended by senior leaders of the Party and of all mass organizations – PB member Com. MNS, Com. YSR on behalf of State Committee of the Party, AIKMS National Secretary Com. VV, Com. Tanya and other leaders. CPI(M)’s Division Committee leaders, leaders of Vyavsaya Karmika Sangam and Viplava Karmika Samakhya were also present.

Braving the heat, thousands of people took part in the funeral procession from Mangalagiri to Chinakakani, Com. Venkatrao’s native place. Party leaders who spoke on the occasion reminded that physical annihilation of revolutionaries cannot stop the march of revolution, and that politics and practice alone can win a base among the down trodden people.