New Delhi: The rapid rise of Madvi Hidma within the Maoist ranks is giving the Communist Party of India (Maoist) a prominent tribal face in the outfit’s top leadership. No longer may questions on the absence of tribals in the top leadership make it uneasy.
Saturday’s ambush by Hidma-led Maoists on a joint security forces team in Chhattisgarh’s forested Sukma that killed at least 17 troopers and led to the loot of about 15 sophisticated weapons will further raise the guerrilla leader’s stock in the organisation.
Explaining the rationale for Saturday’s attack, a government source said on condition of anonymity: “Ideologically, Maoists strike when the state is in a weaker position as it is now with all focus on the coronavirus scare. Moreover, a spectacular strike was in the way if only to prove that they are around and with the ability to strike big.”
Believed to be in his early fifties, Hidma’s larger than life image also emanates from the lack of information about his origins and past life which remain steeped in mystery. Police is also not sure whether the old photographs in circulation are actually those of Hidma who also uses the name ‘Hidmalu’ and ‘Santosh’.
In the past, Maoist leaders were often found to be evasive when questioned about the absence of tribals in either the Central Committee (CC) or the Central Military Commission (CMC), the two apex decision-making bodies in the organizational structure. Now Hidma is reported to be a member of both. Besides being among the youngest among the members, he is a local tribal from Bastar.
Most Maoist leaders are upper caste Telugu-speakers originally hailing from Andhra Pradesh. Present Maoist ‘supreme commander’ Basavaraj (real name Nambala Keshava Rao) and his predecessor Ganapathy (real name Muppala Lakshmana Rao) are both Telugus.
Avowed to a Mao Zedong-inspired class struggle, the Maoists claim to be fighting for the rights of the underprivileged including peasants and tribals. Their core area of influence lies in forested areas across central India extending from pockets in Bihar in the north to Kerala in the south often referred to as the 2,500-km-long ‘Red Corridor’.
But the core area has always been the Dandakaranya forests which the Maoists refer to as the central guerrilla base. It includes the Bastar region and the impenetrable Abujhmaad area which itself is about 4,000 sq km in size.
Hidma’s name first came into circulation when it was linked to the 2013 attack in the state’s Darbaghati area when almost the entire state leadership of the Congress party was wiped out just before the 2014 countrywide parliamentary elections. Among the 27 victims were prominent Congress leader Mahendra Karma and Vidyacharan Shukla.
While the attack was ordered by Ramanna alias Ravula Srinivas, the then head of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC)—a key branch in the overall Maoist set-up—the brain and the brawn behind the devastating attack belonged to Hidma.
But it was the April 24, 2017 attack near Chintagufa in Sukma that shot Hidma into prominence as he emerged from Ramana’s shadow. The attack left at least 25 CRPF personnel dead.
“Hidma’s elevation is very significant. While Misir Besra from Jharkhand was a member of the CMC, Hidma is the first tribal from Chhattisgarh,” says Dr PV Ramana, a leading expert on studies and research on the Maoist movement.
The expert military tactician has several advantages. Relatively young, Hidma is known to be meticulous in his planning with a brutal side to his character that imparts cold professionalism to his operations which are known not to fail.
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