Renowned balladeer, writer and activist Gaddar passed away on Sunday, August 6. A former Maoist ideologue, Gaddar and his music were a crucial part of the Maoist movement in Telangana as well as the separate statehood agitation since the late 1960s. Many writers, political leaders and citizens expressed condolences over Gaddar’s passing.
A statement from Apollo Spectra Hospital, Ameerpet, said that he passed away at 3 pm on Sunday “due to lung and urinary problems and advanced age.” “He was suffering from severe heart disease and got admitted on July 20, 2023. He underwent a bypass surgery on August 3, 2023 and recovered from it. However, he is a past patient of lung and urinary problems, which along with advanced age aggravated and led to his passing away,” the hospital’s statement said.
Gaddar was born as Gummadi Vittal Rao in Toopran in 1949. He took his stage name from the famous pre-independence Gadar Party of Punjab. He was a Maoist ideologue right from his days as a student at Osmania University. His songs were popular for highlighting the state’s alleged exploitation of marginalised communities. Gaddar’s singing and oratory skills also played a key role in the Telangana statehood movement.
The 74-year-old was the founder of Jana Natya Mandali, a cultural wing of CPI (Marxist Leninist). He played a key role in the fight for justice after the Karamchedu massacre of Dalits in 1985. His songs opposed police brutality and extrajudicial killings or fake encounters. He also was a vocal critic of Operation Green Hunt, the government’s all-out offensive against Naxalites. There was an attempt to assassinate the poet in 1997 by five unidentified assailants at his residence in Secunderabad. He survived the attack, however, a bullet remained lodged in his spinal cord.
In recent years, he had started visiting various temples in Telangana and participating in religious rituals, going against communist ideology. After severing ties with the Maoists in 2017, Gaddar enrolled himself as a voter the same year and for the first time in his life, cast his vote in 2018, when he was in his late sixties.
In 2022, Gaddar announced that he would contest the Munugode by-poll from KA Paul’s Praja Shanti Party. The move came as a surprise especially considering the poet’s connections with the Congress party, and many were convinced that he would join them. Gaddar’s son GV Surya Kiran had in fact, joined the Congress in 2018, the same year Gaddar voted for the first time.
Gaddar has been a vocal critic of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly TRS) and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for allegedly birthing a ‘new feudalism’ in the state. He alleged that the CM had failed all the promises made to Dalits in the state.
He will be remembered for his songs like ‘Amma Telanganamma’, ‘Podustunna Poddumeedha’ and ‘Malletheegaku Pandiri Vole’.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief Revanth Reddy cancelled his press meet scheduled for Sunday in the wake of Gaddar’s demise.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed condolences over Gaddar’s passing and said, “Gaddar was a people’s poet, the revolutionary spirit of weaker sections. His were all songs of social reform. He always lived for social justice. His death is unexpected. The thoughts, words and lives of social justice warriors will live on and inspire us forever. All Telugu people salute Gaddar."