The death of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Wednesday with security personnel in Chhattisgarh has dealt a big blow to the Maoist rank and file.
Officers in the security establishment are, however, cautioning against lowering the guard, saying until Madvi Hidma, the de facto military chief of the CPI (Maoist) in Chhattisgarh, is nabbed, the threat remains potent.
The elusive Hidma, who hails from Puvarti village in Bastar, is suspected to have played key roles in all major Maoist attacks on security forces including the 2010 killing of 76 CRPF personnel in Chintalnar and the 2013 Jhiram Ghati ambush in which the state Congress leadership was wiped out.
He currently commands Battalion 1 of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army which operates in the districts of South Bastar, Bijapur, Sukma and Dantewada. He is also a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee.
“In an organisation dominated by Telugu-speaking Maoists, Hidma is the only local tribal in a senior position. His presence during attacks, military tactics, local connect and guile inspire the cadres. At a time when the movement has its back against the wall, he continues to motivate them,” a senior security establishment officer told .
“Just 45 years old, he may not be among the top Maoist leaders, but it is his word that matters to the cadres in Chhattisgarh,” the officer said.
In recent years, as security forces advanced deep inside the Maoist stronghold of Abujhmad, Hidma was cornered multiple times, but each time he managed to escape. In June 2017, after two successive attacks in Bhejji and Burkapal left 38 personnel dead, security forces launched Operation Prahaar in Sukma. Hidma was said to have sustained grievous injuries. But he soon emerged, launching fresh attacks on security forces.
In 2021, following intelligence on Hidma’s presence near his home, an operation was launched with 540 CRPF and CoBRA commandos and 250 DRG and STF personnel apart from some contingents of auxiliary forces. But security forces soon found out that they had walked into a trap – Hidma’s battalion killed 22 soldiers in LMG fire from a hill.
The Karegutta Hills encounter this April-May is another example. With 25,000 personnel joining an operation that ran for almost three weeks, this was the biggest anti-Maoist action in decades. Hidma remained elusive though 31 Maoists were killed in the operation.
Former chief of Andhra Pradesh’s crack anti-Maoist commando unit Greyhounds, K Durga Prasad, who retired as the DG of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), believes the end game lies in Hidma’s arrest or killing.
“The killing of Basavaraju is big. But if they kill Hidma, the cadres will be completely demoralised. He is their sharpest military commander. As long as he is there, they will sustain,” Durga Prasad told The Indian Express.
He also suggested the simultaneous rollout of a robust amnesty scheme. “Government should also simultaneously roll out an attractive surrender, amnesty and rehabilitation policy. Once Hidma is out of the way, such a policy will attract both cadres and the leadership. And the CPI (Maoist) will be finished. They haven’t been getting new leaders for two decades now and have now begun to struggle to get fresh cadre as well. The ideology no longer attracts the youth and their resources have depleted considerably,” he said.
RK Vij, former chief of anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh, however, says even Hidma is not in prime health.
“Hidma is only a military commander. They will never elevate him to a political leader. It was because of the narrative that they do not let locals rise that they made him chief commander of the south bureau. Despite being a very capable military commander, he is not in good shape. He is said to have suffered some paralytic attack in the recent past,” Vij said.
According to Vij, a new leadership – Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu is a frontrunner since he has served as secretary of the DKSZC – will be decided in due course. But the key problem that the Maoists face is that their core group is unable to meet since security forces have moved deep inside the jungles.
