Varavara Rao

Pendyala Varavara Rao (born 3 November 1940) is an Indian Maoist ideologue , poet, teacher, and writer from Telangana, India. He is an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and has been arrested under the non-bailable Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act . Rao was arrested on the charge of plotting to assassinate Indian prime minister, possibly based upon planted evidence. In August 2022, he was released on bail by the Supreme Court of India, on medical grounds.

Personal life and education Pendyala Varavara Rao was born on 3 November 1940 in Chinna Pendyala, Warangal district into a Telugu Brahmin family. He studied at Chinna Pendyala, Warangal and Hyderabad. In 1960, he completed a post-graduate degree in Telugu literature from Osmania University. Later, he left research to join a private college at Siddipet, Medak district as a lecturer. From there he switched over to DAVP, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi to work as a Publication Assistant. Again he left the job to join as a lecturer in another private college at Jadcherla, Mahabubnagar district. He moved to Warangal to join Chanda Kanthaiah Memorial College (CKM College) where he worked as Telugu lecturer and later became its principal.

Writing Rao is considered as one of the best critics in Telugu literature and taught Telugu literature to graduate and undergraduate students for about 40 years. He is known as an orator and had addressed thousands of public gatherings.

Publications and editorial work In 1966, Rao founded a group called Saahithee Mithrulu (Friends of Literature), which started producing a literary journal called Srujana. The journal was initially published on a quarterly basis, but following wide popularity, it became a monthly journal in 1970. Srujana was published from 1966 to 1992, and focused on publishing the works of young, local poets. Srujana was later replaced with a new journal named Arunatara.

Varavara Rao has published fifteen poetry collections of his own besides editing a number of poetry anthologies. It was banned again in 2013.

1973–75: Imprisonment during the Emergency Rao was initially arrested in 1973 by the Andhra Pradesh State Government, under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, on charges of inciting violence through his writing.

2004: Peace Emissary to Naxals In 2001, the Telugu Desam government in Andhra Pradesh accepted a proposal to have peace negotiations with members of two banned organisations, Communist Party of India (Maoist) and People's War. Varavara Rao, Kalyana Rao and Gaddar were accepted by both sides as peace emissaries, to establish the conditions under which the peace agreement would be negotiated. Rao called for a partial lifting of the ban on these organisations in order to facilitate peace talks, and advocated a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict.

Rao noted that there were five police encounters during the negotiations, in which members of the banned parties were killed despite a temporary cease-fire. His efforts were subsequently lauded by the then-Home Minister for the State of Andhra Pradesh, K Jana Reddy who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020 asking him to grant bail to an unwell, imprisoned Rao and, noting that, "As the then Home Minister I carried the responsibility of holding peace talks between the then AP government and Naxal parties in the year 2004 October. Mr Rao played a significant role in creating cordial climate in conducting these peace talks and was genuinely interested in bringing peace in the state.”

1990s2010s: Telangana Movement Varavara Rao, along with a number of organisations stood in the forefront in exposing and resisting the pro-globalisation and liberalisation policies of Chandrababu Naidu who came to power in 1994. During Chandrababu Naidu's government, three Central Committee members of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Peoples War were arrested in Bangalore and killed. Within 24 hours of imposition of ban on Virasam, Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao, were arrested on 19 August 2005 under AP Public Security Act and sent to Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad. Since his arrest, 7 new cases were charged against him. Apart from an earlier case from 1999 (pertaining to a protest meeting against the killings of three top leaders of Peoples War), and the case regarding the ban on Virasam, the remaining six cases pertain to the period of talks between the government and the Naxalites. When the government revoked the AP Public Security Act against Virasam through GO Ms No. 503 of 11 November 2005, the cases against Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao should have become redundant. In the normal course, Public Prosecutor should have informed the court about the redundancy of the cases. However, that order has not reached the court and Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao had to undergo a number of adjournments of the case after the lifting of the ban. Finally, the court struck down the case on Varavara Rao under the Public Security Act on 31 March 2006 and he obtained bail for all other cases by the time. He was released from jail under bail on 31 March 2006 after a period of about eight months.

In 2010, police ordered the arrest of Rao on the basis of a speech that he made at a convention in Delhi, concerning the state of Kashmir. A First Information Report was registered against Rao, along with writer Arundhati Roy, professor S.A.R. Geelani, who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case, and several Kashmir University professors.

In 2011, Maoist leader Kishenji was killed in an encounter with police. Rao criticised the police for the encounter, claiming that he had seen the body and that it showed distinct signs of torture. In 2011, Rao was one of several persons accused in a case concerning a bomb placed near the car of a police superintendent in Ongole.

Rao was an active participant in the Telangana movement, which aimed for the creation the separate state of Telangana, by bifurcating the existing state of Andhra Pradesh. Although the state of Telangana was formed in 2014, Rao was arrested in 2018 while paying homage, along with others, at a memorial for those killed during the movement.

2018: Elgaar Parishad case On 28 August 2018, Rao was arrested in his home in Hyderabad for his alleged involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon violence that occurred on 1 January 2018. The police alleged that the speeches made at this event, including those by Rao and others, were responsible for inciting violence that occurred the next day. These appear to be based a letter obtained by the police which refers to a person only identified as "R". Rao denied any involvement in the alleged plot. Following this, a special court ordered a report on his health while detained. In June 2020, Rao applied again for bail, on the grounds that he was highly vulnerable to Covid-19, and following a government recommendation that elderly inmates and those with co-morbidities should be released from jail in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, but were unsuccessful. His application for bail was supported by fourteen Members of Parliament, who wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, raising concerns about his health as well as jail conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic in India.

On 16 July, Rao was re-admitted to J.J. Hospital in Mumbai, where he tested positive for Covid-19. Following reports that Rao had been injured again while in the care of the hospital, resulting in a head injury, the National Human Rights Commission ordered that he be moved to a private facility for medical treatment. Rao was then shifted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. The NIA opposed Rao's plea for bail in court, arguing that he was trying to "take undue advantage" of the Covid-19 pandemic, although the hospital confirmed that Rao had tested positive for Covid-19 and was undergoing treatment. Bombay High Court disapproved of the stance taken by the NIA and granted him a medical bail.

Grant of bail Rao and others currently face charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and attempts to bail Rao out, on grounds of his failing health, finally came to fruition as the Bombay High Court granted him a six-month bail on medical grounds and disapproved the stand of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in February 2022.