The Radical Students Union (RSU) was a frontal organization of the

Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist banned communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state" through protracted people' ...

, a Naxalite group. Founded in 1974, it became defunct after 2005. In 2011 there were indications of plans to revive the organization.

History

The RSU was formed on 12 October 1974 in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. Originally it was linked to the Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). The first vice-president was C. V. Subbarao, who was arrested a few months after

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

began in 1975, and remained in jail until 28 March 1977. At first the organization was brutally suppressed, but after The Emergency was lifted in March 1977, it sprang back into life. The second president of the union was Cherukuri Rajkumar, serving until 1984, who went on to become a senior Naxalite commander.

Mallojula Koteswara Rao Mallojula Koteswara Rao (26 November 1954 – 24 November 2011), commonly known by his '' nom de guerre'' Kishenji (), was an Indian political leader who was a Politburo and Central Military Commission member of the Communist Party of India ( ...

alias Kishenji and

Yalavarthi Naveen Babu Yalavarthi Naveen Babu (29 May 1964 – 18 February 2000), or simply Naveen, was a Naxalite leader in India. Yalavarthi Naveen Babu was born on 29 May 1964 in Guddikayalanka village, Bapatla district, Andhra Pradesh, India. His family were farm ...

were leaders of the RSU in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. Issues addressed by the RSU included conditions in schools and welfare hostels, school reservations for the disadvantaged groups, opposition to the New Education Policy and "fake encounters". In its early years there was considerable debate in the Andhra Pradesh RSU over whether it should focus only on student issues or should become part of the

New Democratic Revolution New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

, helping to create the agrarian revolution. The second option was chosen. The RSU started to decline in Andhra Pradesh in the mid-1990s. The RSU and other Maoist organizations were banned in Andhra Pradesh, but in 2004 the state government lifted the ban to allow for peace talks. While talks were underway the People's War Group, a splinter group of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist), merged with the

Maoist Communist Centre The Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) was one of the largest two armed Maoist groups in India, and fused with the other, the People's War Group in September 2004, to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Dakshin Desh When the Communist Par ...

to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). On 17 August 2005 a ban was re-imposed on the Communist Party of India and its frontal organizations including the RSU, the Radical Youth League and the

All India Revolutionary Students Federation The All India Revolutionary Students Federation (AIRSF) was a frontal organisation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). History The Radical Students Union (RSU) organised an all-India seminar in Madras in August 1981 to discuss the natio ...

, after Congress Legislator C. Narsi Reddy was killed. Bans were repeatedly reimposed, one year at a time. In August 2006 the ban was extended for a year. In August 2009 the Andhra Pradesh government extended the ban for another year. In August 2011 the ban was again extended for another year. However, well before 2010 the organization was defunct. In November 2011 it was reported that the Maoists were planning to revive the RSU and other frontal groups in Andhra Pradesh, first in forest areas and later in the plains. Tribal students would be mobilized using the issues of corruption, poor school facilities, lack of teachers and lack of job opportunities. However, they would be starting again from scratch, and apparently the Maoist cadres were demoralized.

References

{{Communist Party of India (Maoist) Communist Party of India (Maoist) Defunct Maoist organisations in India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Volunteer organisations in India

History

See also

References