By Harsh Thakor
On November 3rd, today, the legendary poet and Activist Varavara Rao celebrates his 85th birthday. There are innumerable ways to describe Varavara Rao, reminiscent of colours of a rainbow. He has carried the mantle of a teacher, a poet, an activist, being known to many simply as VV. The Indian government perceived him as a rebel and a threat, an “anti-national.” His journey unfurled with the rural rebellions for land rights in the 1960s—and continuing through the severe repression that followed—he unwaveringly stood by disenfranchised tribal communities, going on, at the start of the millennium, to serve as an emissary in peace negotiations between the Andhra Pradesh government and the Naxalites.
His path breaking contributions to the discipline of Marxist literary criticism as a left-wing intellectual and his fearless opposition to religious orthodoxy, caste discrimination, and neoliberal development left an indelible impression on the oppressed and revolutionary masses, and, unsurprisingly, became a scourge in the eyes of landlords, bureaucrats, and police forces alike.
Appraisal of Character
Since his inception into Maoist ideology in the 1960.s Varvara Rao has unwaveringly carried the baton and flicked the torch of Maoism and liberation, withstanding the most perilous adversity undeterred. He transcended realms rarely explored in revolutionary poetic creativity and made path-breaking experimentations in fusing creative art with realism. Few poets ever better turned a pen into a political weapon. His poetry spoke the very language of the oppressed masses and manifested or epitomised Liberation and Marxist ideology weaved poetic verse to alter the fate of humanity by transforming it’s consciousness. His life was fusion of a poet and a political activist, effectively intervening in the manner of a red lantern to influence the course of events, from the 1960’s to the present day. Varavara Rao’s popular trait or forte lay in bridging the distinction between mental labour, physical labour, ideas and praxis, poetry and activism.
VV sowed the seeds of the Virasam or Revolutionary Writers Association in 1970, ushering anew dawn or era in Indian revolutionary culture with path breaking experiments and making history by being the first and only mass organisation to emerge during the naxalbari movement. He also knitted together cadre into a cohesive force to build the Radical Students Movement, that spurred all sections of oppressed masses of Andhra Pradesh.
He shaped or remodelled the political career of Maoist martyrs like Kishenji and Azad, and many other revolutionary cadres, with his meticulous political skill and painstaking work coming to the fore.
He has been a default emissary of the Maoists in their public and urban life. Even when the movement received striking blows and was trapped by undercurrents of adversity would play a pivotal role in resurrecting it’s morale. VV ushered meaningful peace as an emissary between the state govt. and the CPI(ML)Peoples War group in 2001 and 2002 and later between the CPI(Maoist) and the govt.in 2004.All subverted the tensions between revolutionaries and the ruling party.
Few ideologues were more effective or sounder exponents of the ideology of Naxalbari and Srikakulam and more astute defenders of the erstwhile CPI(ML)Peoples War Group and later the CPI(Maoist). Few were ever more convincing or exuberant in epitomizing the gains of the movement in Dandakaranya or certifying how it gave birth to new political power. In the Bhima Koreagon conspiracy, VV displayed courage of steel in personifying undaunting courage of a revolutionary democrat in unwaveringly exposing the proto-fascist current. His interview in Outlook in 2017 and speech in Anuradha Ghanady Memorial meeting in Mumbai in 2017 were a testament to his enlightening grasp of post-naxalbari historical developments and the manner events unfolded. He was self-critical of flaws like inability of open functioning of mass organisations or capacity to win over Muslim minority.
Varavara Rao embodied a most broad minded or flexible stance in incorporating thoughts of late Dr.Babasahaeb Ambedkar and giving high respect to works and approach of Anand Teltumbde.
VV, with meticulous craft nurtured and moulded activists of Virasam to blossom into full-fledged revolutionary artists be it Paani Pinaaka or Varalaxmi. I was witness to the manner he kept the banner of Virasam fluttering in 2016, with state repression on a wane.
Most commendable that inspite of facing the harshest incarceration and battling the most tumultuous odds, VV’s soul has not been plagued and still illuminates torch of liberation and his beaming eyes resonates spirit to extinguish darkness of fascism. Remarkable the manner prison walls could not deter him from continuing writing , in which he produced his best writings, being enthused even more to dip his pen. The tenacity to not relent under any circumstances characterised his life story, and possibly transcended a peak during his recent arrest in Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy., where he possibly waged his bravest battles against the ruling class oppression.
Life transition into a Marxist
Varavara Rao's literary life sparked at a very early age. It was his family atmosphere that influenced him to begin reading by the age of 7 or 8 and encouraged him to start writing around his early teens
Born into a middle class brahmin family in the Chinna Pendyala village of Jangaon district, present day Telangana (at the time it was part of Warangal district in the princely state of Hyderabad) in the November of 1940, he was the last of 10 siblings. Ideas of modern politics and literature flourished in his household, with four of his brothers foraying into literature. They were friends with the Kaloji brothers, Potlapalli Rama Rao, and Vattikota Alvaru Swamy, harbingers of modern literature into the early 20th century Telangana. His brothers set up libraries and publishing houses in early 1940s in their villages as well as at nearby Ghanapuram. Rao’s paternal cousin was a communist and a leader of the Telangana Peasant Armed Struggle. At an early age, he witnessed him bringing in people from the "untouchable" communities of Mala and Madiga home, dining with them, and also being banished from home. Leaders of the Congress party, two of his brothers fought against the Nizam and were constant targets for the attacks of the police and Razakars. To escape the persecution, they had to flee with their families to Bezawada where they lived for a few months. All of these events had a significant impact on him from a very early age.
He was a Master’s student at Hyderabad’s Osmania University in 1960, when he started writing literary criticism along with poetry. His scholarship on Telugu literature during his MA was under eminent academics like Khandavalli Lakshmiranjanam, Divakarla Venkata Avadhani and Biruduraju Ramaraju. Rao was also closely associated with Telugu literature stalwarts like Krishna Sastri, Kundurti, Gopichand, Buchibabu, Dasarathi and C. Narayana Reddy. He visited Chalam in Tiruvannamalai and Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Sri Sri) in Madras and even tried to get Sri Sri to write a foreword to his book of poems written between 1957 and 1965. In 1968, he published Chalinegallu (Camp Fire), an anthology of aspirations, dreams, and a burst of emotions that characterised the youth of the post-colonial era, all marked by immense faith in Nehruvian socialist ideals and a broad democratic, progressive vision.
Breaking away from ideology of Nehruvian socialism, around 1966, he began to associate himself with the Srjana Adhunika Sahitya Vedika, a forum for modern literature that upheld the ideals of rationalism, scientific temper and experimental fervour. The world was being swept by events like the The Cultural Revolution in China, and the Naxalbari and Srikakulam struggles in India moulded the thinking of Varavara Rao. The period between 1966 and 1969 witnessed a qualitative transition in his writing, deeply influenced by the inspirational times. Along with being instrumental in bringing together poets who stood in solidarity with the revolutionary Srikakulam movement, he also compiled an anthology of their poetry, titled Tirugabadu (Rebel), in 1969.
His baptism or induction into Marxist thought sparked with the uprising of Naxalbari and closer home, the rebellion in the Ghats of Srikakulam. Varavara Rao, who had served as a school teacher and had been running the literary journal Srujana for his Saahithee Mitrulu (Friends of Literature) society turned one of the co-founders of the acclaimed organisation VIRASAM (‘Viplava Rachayitala Sangham’ or Association of Revolutionary Writers), which featured also, Mahakavi Srirangam Srinivasarao (popularly known by his nickname Sri Sri). As a critic, translator, and explainer, he has penned numerous anthologies of poetry, novels, and works of social and political theory.
Revolutionary Heroism
VV displayed death defying courage on August 24th,1973, in protest against rising prices. 2 Students. namely Raveendar and Bhujanga Rao were abducted as the protest reached Arts college and KG office He was beaten to the last dop of his blood, after a merciless police lathi-charge. Bleeding profusely, he still addressed the rally when the procession reached the collector’s office. Eventually the police relented, and released the student leaders, after the collector stepped out of his office and apologised for what the police engaged in.This incident exemplified Vara Var Rao’s unwavering tenacity.
In another instance, VV heroically and defiantly enabled the 3-day Virasam literary school from October 4th to 7th, in Warangal, to be successfully held. The college that was scheduled .to conduct the classes shirked of its commitment a day before, while the management of another auditorium also withdrew availability, in the last-minute V’s resolute defiance secured a room for the 3-day school. It certified that a word was his weapon. Till the last drop of his blood, he tried to bridge the gap or even eradicate distinctions between mental -physical labour, caste, religion, etc. Remarkable that besides writing and editing journal Srijana, he would himself pack and post the journal and would walk on his own for photocopying or banking.
In his stay in sixty weeks in Yerawada prison from 2018 his tenacity and endurance soared to a peak where he wrote atleast three thousand pages, and read atleast sixty books. He resurrected and possibly even surpassed his creative imagination of yesteryears. He wrote his opinion on novels by Amitav Ghosh and Meena Kandasamy, wrote a feedback letter on book edited by Ashok Vajpayee on ‘India Dissents’. and replied by a letter to an interview of Shahidul Alam, a Bangladeshi photographer.
Incarceration
Naxalbari was not only a turning point Varavara Rao but also in the history of Indian criminal procedure. The state has attempted to crush the Naxalite threat and establish law and order. This attempt has triggered several laws, which in their loosest interpretation (also the most usual kind of interpretation) are nothing short of draconian, including: the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act), and MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). On account of these acts, he has been fabricated with many charges over the years including terrorism during the emergency, the Secunderabad Conspiracy Case, and currently the Elgar Parishad Case. He was alleged to have orchestrated an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister in the congregation preceding the ‘Bhima-Koregaon Violence’ incident. As a result of these various charges, he has by now spent nearly ten years in prison and many countless hours of court hearings. As he writes in his memoir ‘Captive Imagination’, “life imprisonment [is] interpreted as imprisonment for life.”
Nine years of his life were spent in intense police lock up. or in solitary confinement. The first time he was incarcerated was on October 10th, 1973, two days after the successful 4-day Warangal literary school that enthralled the lovers of revolution and literature. The latest incarceration, was in Khammam, in the Bhima Koregaon case, in April 28th, 2018.Spanning a tenure of 45 years, Varavara Rao was imprisoned on 25 occasions, with every case fabricated, with not even a single charge based on any concrete evidence. Thirteen cases were struck down by the law courts, after prolonged trials encompassing duration of 17 years, 3 cases were quashed by courts even without trial, and the remaining nine terminated with the prosecution withdrawing the charges against him.
In his stay in sixty weeks in Yerawada prison from 2018 his tenacity and endurance soared to a peak where he wrote atleast three thousand pages, and read atleast sixty books. He resurrected and possibly even surpassed his creative imagination of yesteryears. He wrote his opinion on novels by Amitav Ghosh and Meen Kandasamy, wrote a feedback letter on book edited by Ashok Vajpayee on ‘India Dissents’. and replied by a letter to an interview of Shahidul Alam, a Bangladeshi photographer.
Poems and Diaries
Varavara Rao has published fifteen poetry collections of his own besides editing a number of poetry anthologies. His poetry collections are: Chali Negallu (Camp Fires, 1968), Jeevanaadi (Pulse, 1970), Ooregimpu (Procession, 1973), Swechcha (Freedom, 1978), Samudram (Sea, 1983), Bhavishyathu Chitrapatam (Portrait of the Future, 1986), Muktakantam (Free Throat, 1990), Aa Rojulu (Those Days, 1998), Unnadedo Unnattu (As it is, 2000), Dagdhamauthunna Bagdad (Burning Bagdad, 2003), Mounam Oka Yuddhaneram (Silence is a War Crime, 2003), Antassootram (Undercurrent, 2006), Telangana Veeragatha (Legend of Telangana, 2007), Palapitta Paata (Song of Palapitta, 2007) and Beejabhoomi (Field of Seeds, 2014). In 2008, an anthology of selected poetry by Rao, titled Varavara Rao Kavitvam (1957-2007) was published. In 1986, one of his poetry anthologies, Bhavishyathu Chitrapatam (Portrait of the Future), was banned by the state government.
Rao's book, Telangana Liberation Struggle and Telugu Novel – A Study into Interconnection between Society and Literature (1983) is considered to be a landmark in Marxist literary criticism in Telugu He published half a dozen volumes of literary criticism and a volume of his editorials in Srujana.[
During his periods of incarceration, Rao maintained and published a personal journal, Sahacharulu (1990), which was translated into English and published in 2010 as Captive Imagination. He also translated Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's prison diary, Detained, and novel, Devil on the Cross, into Telugu.
by
Harsh Thakor is
freelance journalist Thanks information from ‘The Making of
Varavara Rao’ an intimate portrait of a Nephew by N Venugopal and
Varsha
Gandikota-Nellutla in Bostonreview.
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