COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE - On the demise of Comrade S.A. Rauf,

Press Release
March 1, 2014
Condolence Message of CC, CPI (Maoist)
On the demise of Comrade S.A. Rauf,
A leader of Indian Revolution
Comrade S.A.Rauf, a leader of Indian revolution passed away on the night of February 9, 2014 due to severe ill-health. He was in his eighties. Kadiri town of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh is his native place. He studied law. He joined the Indian communist movement in the 1950s. Comrade Rauf was one among those who fought ideologically against the revisionism of CPI and neo-revisionism of CPI (M). The CC, CPI (Maoist) humbly pays homage to Comrade S.A.Rauf with bowed heads.
The armed peasant revolution that began in Naxalbari in 1967 is a great turn in the history of the Indian revolution. It was Naxalbari that was the beginning for the armed peasant revolution that is ongoing as a continuation of the revolutionary legacy of the heroic Telangana armed struggle that was waged from 1948 to 1951, the Punapra, Vayalar and Tebhaga movements and that began consciously with a concrete aim under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Thought (Maoism at present). The Naxalbari struggle burst forth as a result of the sharp ideological struggle waged inside the party after rebelling against the revisionist leadership. It was the struggle that brought the Telangana armed struggle of the past once again into the agenda in India. Before Naxalbari it was never theoretically accepted in the Communist Party of India the central and crucial task of the revolution is to win a countrywide victory through the path of protracted people’s war (PPW) that builds base areas in the vast rural areas where the enemy is weak, that expands gradually from isolated areas to wider areas and finally surrounds the cities and captures power. This was the first blow of the axe for the entrenched revisionism in our country. It was with this that the foundations of revisionism were shaken. The Naxalbari peasant revolution inspired the oppressed masses of all over our country and to an equal degree it worried the exploitative classes. Gradually the understanding that the Naxalbari path is the only way for the liberation of the peasantry developed among the oppressed peasantry. Along with the workers-peasants that are suffering from increasing unemployment and economic crisis, the middle classes were inspired as never before in the Indian revolutionary history. Within a short span the spark that was lighted in Naxalbari spread to several areas in India. The armed peasant struggles in Srikakulam, Mushahari, Birbhum, Gopivallabhpur, Lakhimpur and Kheri terrified the exploiting classes all over the country.
Comrade Rauf is one of those communist revolutionaries who led the revolutionary movement in Andhra Pradesh state by rebelling against the revisionist leadership strongly supporting the Naxalbari upsurge and declaring that Naxalbari is the only path. Comrade Rauf who till then he worked as a lawyer and worked in open activities, left his profession and went underground. He firstly joined the AICCR that was formed in 1968 under the leadership of comrade Charu Mazumdar and was a State Coordinating Committee member of the Andhra Pradesh state unit. He participated in the meeting held in Guthikonda Bilam under the leadership of comrade Charu Mazumdar with the leadership representatives of Andhra Pradesh and was elected as a member of the Andhra Pradesh State Organizing Committee. Later he was present in the CPI (ML) that was formed on April 22, 1969. He was one of those prominent comrades who waged a ideological, political struggles against the right opportunist revisionist theories of Nagireddy, Devulapalli and Pullareddy. He attended the state conference of the CPI (ML) in Andhra Pradesh that was
held in May 1970 and was elected as a State Committee member. When the party split in 1972, he stood on the side of the Central Organizing Committee and the CPI (ML) and was a member of the Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee (State Committee). In 1973, he was arrested in Bengal. In 1977, Comrade Rauf left the party opposing the August Resolution formulated as tactics by the Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee (APPC) according to the changing conditions. Though the APPC and particularly the Rayalaseema comrades appealed to him to carry on two-line struggle inside the party by putting his opinions regarding tactics for discussion, comrade Rauf rejected and left the party. He formed another revolutionary party in Andhra Pradesh state. With this a split occurred in the party.
In 1979, comrade Rauf along with CPI (ML) Kerala State Committee became a part of the launching of Central Reorganizing Committee (CRC), CPI (ML). In that he was a member of the CRC Committee. The CRC was one of the three founding members of the Internationalist Communist Movement (RIM). The other two founding members were the Peru Communist Party and the Revolutionary Communist Party (USA). Though the CRC made several attempts to build armed struggle in Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s it could not get appropriate results as it could not develop its mass base. As the party failed in going into the people the party could not expand and the movement was damaged. Comrade Rauf opposed the right opportunist revisionist theory of Venu, the General Secretary of CRC, CPI (ML), cut his relations with it and took the revolutionary path.
In 1987, comrade Rauf became a part of rebuilding that party as CPI (ML) Red Flag and continued as its CC member till 1998. He fought against the right opportunist revisionist path brought by Ramachandran who was its General Secretary and united the revolutionaries in that party around the correct revolutionary path. Later MUC joined with CPI (ML) Maharashtra and Kerala units and emerged as CPI (ML) Naxalbari in 1999. Comrade Rauf worked as the General Secretary of this unified party till 2008. Comrade Rauf put efforts to establish that as a revolutionary party. This party was a founder member of CCOMPOSA (Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organizations of South Asia). This party played a good role in carrying on revolutionary propaganda. Internationally, it played a major role in RIM and CCOMPOSA in exposing the revisionist paths brought to the fore by Bob Avakian, the leader of RCP (USA) and by Prachanda and Bhattarai in UCPN (Maoist) in Nepal. Since 2008, comrade Rauf suffered from severe ill-health.
Comrade Rauf worked with the aspiration and confidence that at some point of time the revolutionaries should unite around a correct Maoist path in India. He did not care the several ups and downs in the movement and the state repression and with unflinching commitment towards the revolution, steely determination and resolve he stood as a great revolutionary leader till the end. He worked tirelessly to realize the PPW for the victory of the New Democratic Revolution in India. He was martyred while working for the realization of unity of genuine revolutionaries in India by uniting the party he built around Maoist revolutionary path. He strongly believed in the slogan - “Naxalbari Ek Hi Raasta.”
The CC, CPI (Maoist) upholds the martyrdom of comrade Rauf and is expressing its deep condolences at his demise. It shares the grief of his family members. It is vowing one more time on this occasion that we would fight till the end to fulfill the aim of New Democratic Society-Socialism-Communism he dreamt of.
(Abhay)
Spokesperson,
Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)