Maoists Issue Statement Condemning Sonu, Satish for Surrender; Police Cite Growing Rift

In a scathing internal rebuke dated November 5, 2025, the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) Central Committee has denounced two senior cadres—Sonu, a Central Committee member, and Satish, part of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC)—for surrendering to authorities in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, labeling them “politically degenerated” traitors who “betrayed the revolution” and distorted the party’s ideological line. The statement, circulated among cadres and sympathizers, accuses Sonu of secretly negotiating with Maharashtra officials for months and Satish of consulting local politicians and police in Narayanpur before defecting, allegedly leveraging their positions to sow confusion and divert followers. This public disavowal comes amid a surge in high-profile surrenders, with over 200 Maoists—many from upper echelons—laying down arms in 2025 alone, signaling deepening fractures within the 55-year-old insurgency that once controlled vast “red corridors” across central India.

The Maoist leadership fiercely rejected the duo’s reported rationale: that the protracted “people’s war” strategy had become obsolete, advocating instead for “open political activity” and “mass participation” without arms. Quoting late general secretary Namballa Kesavarao (alias Basavaraj), who died in a 2024 encounter, the statement insists he never endorsed disarmament, asserting, “The party must shed arms only when it ceases to exist.” It frames surrender as capitulation to the “enemy state,” citing global precedents like Chile’s revolutionary setbacks after abandoning armed struggle. The communiqué urges remaining cadres and “oppressed people” to reject these “distortions” and recommit to guerrilla warfare, warning that tactical adjustments under pressure do not justify betrayal.

Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sunderraj P interpreted the statement as evidence of “growing frustration, ideological confusion, and internal rift” within the CPI (Maoist), which has seen its influence plummet from a peak of 96 affected districts in 2010 to under 40 today. “By branding rehabilitated senior cadres as traitors, the outfit exposes deep mistrust and disintegration,” he told reporters on November 13, 2025. He highlighted the surrenders of central and zonal committee members disillusioned by the “futility of violence” and the “hollowness” of the people’s war narrative, contrasting it with Bastar’s accelerating development—over 10,000 km of roads built since 2020, 250 new security camps, and rising public participation in governance. Sunderraj reiterated the government’s open-door rehabilitation policy, offering dignity and integration, while warning holdouts of decisive action.

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The Maoist missive underscores a desperate bid to stem defections amid Operation Kagar—Chhattisgarh’s multi-pronged counterinsurgency combining security saturation, infrastructure, and surrender incentives—that has neutralized over 300 insurgents this year. With cadres increasingly questioning the relevance of a doctrine rooted in 1960s China amid 21st-century realities like smartphone penetration and economic corridors, the CPI (Maoist) faces existential erosion. As Bastar witnesses its first violence-free tribal elections in decades, the statement’s defiant rhetoric rings hollow against the tide of surrenders, signaling the twilight of India’s longest internal conflict.

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