Hyderabad, April 12: He died as he had lived for the last 42 years or so — a life of secret struggle for the toiling masses and, over the last few days, waging a quiet battle with cancer in a Hyderabad hospital where he was registered under an alias.
Paila Vasudeva Rao, one of the architects of the Srikakulam peasant movement, breathed his last here today. He was 78 and is survived by wife Chandramma and a daughter.
Fondly called PV by his followers, the death marks the passing of the last of the Srikakulam stalwarts who remained true to their convictions till their last breath.
None in the hospital had a clue to the presence in their midst of one of the architects of revolution in the State. His identity was fiercely protected by loyal friends.
Born in Uddanam in 1932, Vasudeva Rao worked first as as village secretary and later as a surveyor and a teacher. In 1962, he became a fulltime revolutionary, went underground in 1969 and remained so till the end.
Associated with the United Communist Party in Srikakulam, he was an accused in the Parvatipuram conspiracy case and during his years as revolutionary rubbed shoulders with the likes of Pachadi Krishnamurthy, Venkatapu Satyam, Adhibhatla Kailasam, Tamada Ganapati, Panigrahi Subbarao and Vavilapalli Satyanarayana.
Senior journalist Venugopala Rao cites Vasudeva Rao’s work against the moneylenders who preyed upon tribals in Srikakulam.
However, Vasudeva Rao was not quite convinced by the Naxalbari line as he felt that the situation had not ripened for an armed struggle in the State.
Later, he formed the CPI (ML) under the leadership of Satyanarayna Singh of Bihar, becoming its State secretary in 1976. The party later became known as CPI(ML) New Democracy.
PV was jailed for 11 years between 1975 and 1986.
Scores of Communist leaders paid tribute today when the body was brought to Marx Bhavan in Vidyanagar.
CPI State secretary K Narayana, CPM State secretary BV Raghavulu and several others recalled the services of PV as a revolutionist.
In accordance with his last wish, the body was taken to Palasa. State committee member DV Krishna said the people would able to pay their respects at all party offices en route.
The funeral will take place tomorrow or the day after.
–Agencies