HYDERABAD: In yet another setback to the Maoist movement, a top woman Naxalite, Alluri Usha Rani, surrendered before the police here on Saturday after bidding goodbye to CPI (Maoist) in which she played an active role for over 31 years. Usha Rani, who is a member of the divisional committee of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, surrendered before DGP M Mahender Reddy on account of her failing health.
She is accused in 17 serious crimes including triggering blasts and taking part in incidents of exchange of fire.
The police said that the Maoist movement was fizzling out and that even Muppala Lakshamana Rao, former general secretary of CPI Maoist, is now suffering from amnesia and is incoherent when he speaks. Many of the senior functionaries are over 60 years of age and are not active at ground level.
Usha Rani aka Vijayakka aka Pochakka aka Bhanu didi, 53, is a post-graduate and during her college days, she was active in student politics. After college, she worked as RSU Krishna district president and member of the Coastal Andhra Regional Committee of RSU.
She hails from Tenali in Guntur. Early in her life, she came under the influence of her father Alluri Bhujanga Rao who was a Hindi Pandit initially but later joined the CPI ML-People’s War.
He became a den keeper for 10 years in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
She then joined the CPI-ML PW in November 1991 and since then she had been active. She worked as Squad Area Committee (SAC) member, Commander Rachakonda squad, Commander of Krishna Patti dalam, DCM and was made in charge of Rachakonda and Alair Area Committees.
She was also made commander of the fifth platoon at DKSZC (Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee). From 2006 to 2008, she worked as AC secretary for the dalams of the North Bastar division in the Kanker and Narayanpur districts. She was also a political teacher at Mobile Political School (MoPoS) in the rank of Regional Committee member till 2014.
Injured in a shootout
Claiming health reasons, she approached the senior committee members asking them to allow her to go into exile for which the party granted her permission in 2022. Usha Rani also received injuries in her abdomen during a shootout that took place in Yadagirigutta while her husband Mukka Venkatehswar Gupta died in the incident.
The police after questioning her came to know that due to a lack of leadership, the party had lost its focus on strengthening the aspect of political education, resulting in the perpetuation of only military actions. This has led to many of the activists losing conviction in armed struggle and the party’s ideology.