VIJAYAWADA: Kambhampati Gnana Satyamurthy, one of the founders of People's War (PW), is no more. The revolutionary leader and associate of legendary Naxalite icon Kondapalli Seetharamaiah died at his home at Kandulapadu village in G Konduru mandal in Krishna district on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 84 and is survived by wife Manemma, son Siddhartha, and two daugters Anupama and Sridevi.
Siddhartha is lorry driver and is living in the same village. Anupama, a doctor, and Sridevi, assistant general manager of Visakha Steel Plant, are both living in Visakhapatnam. His son, Sujanya, died in a road accident a few years ago.
Satyamurthy's last rites will be performed at Vijayawada on Wednesday and will be attended by eminent personalities from across the state. A Dalit Naxalite leader and literary icon, he wrote revolutionary literature under the pen name of Sivasagar.
Born at Shankarampadu village in Nandivada mandal in Krishna district, he pursued his schooling at Gudivada and completed postgraduation in political science from Andhra University at Visakhapatnam.
As a student leader at Satyamurthy played an active role in the Communist Party and also as a leader of Rickshaw Karmika Sangham at Gudivada. After studies, he started his career as a sub-editor with Visalandhra daily at Guntur and as editor of 'Yuvajanam' daily in Guntur.
Later, he worked as a lecturer in English at Warangal where he came in contact with Kondapalli Seetharamiah, a Hindi teacher, in 1960. They became friends soon and were influenced by Marxism.
Satyamurthy led the movement, 'Visakha Ukku, Andhrula Hakku', in 1966 for establishment of a steel plant at Visakhapatnam. He was attracted to the Naxalbari movement in 1967 and, along with Seetharamiah, founded the People's War group of Naxalites in 1970. He wrote many poems under the pen name, 'Sivasagar'. 'Udyamam Nela Baludu', 'Ambedkar Suryudu', 'Guerrilla', a compilation of poetry, and others are his landmark writings in the Telugu revolutionary literature. Virasam leader Varavara Rao published all of Sivasagar's poetry and books in the form of a magazine.
Satyamurthy steadily grew in the revolutionary party and, at one point of time, carried reward of Rs 25,000 on his head. He was arrested in 1972 and released from jail in 1975. During the Emergency period, Satyamurthy played a crucial role in carrying on the revolutionary struggle. Following sharp differences over casteism in the party, he came out of it in 1985 and was suspended later. He floated several organisations, including Bahujan Samaj Republican Party. He also launched a magazine called 'Edureeta'.