Shortly before he was admitted to hospital for surgery on July 20, Telugu revolutionary folk artist and balladeer Gaddar had told a press conference with a confident assurance that he would be back soon – fit and fine. It was a statement true to the fighting spirit of the poet-singer whose formal name was Gummadi Vittal Rao. But willpower was not enough. Gaddar died on August 6 after suffering from complications following a bypass. He was 77.

Gaddar’s death is an immeasurable loss to members of people’s movements, who were inspired by his voice to fight against injustice. By the 1990s, his powerful ballads against the exploitation of marginalised communities had made him a household name.

Gaddar’s long political and cultural journey began as a Naxalite in the 1970s. When Emergency was declared in 1975, Gaddar was jailed. He went underground after that. His political career has witnessed tumultuous events and unexpected twists and turns, Though that angered some, he remained an icon of the anti-caste struggle of Dalits and injustices against Adivasis.

To help those unfamiliar with Gaddar understand the nuances of his life, the socio-cultural context of his emergence and fame would be useful.

Enigma to beloved balladeer

The suppression of the 1969 Telangana movement for statehood for the region left a deep void in the political landscape. To protect their economic interests and political domination, the landholding feudal castes led by the Velamas and Reddys had colluded with the ruling Andhra elites to suppress peoples’ struggles. JV Narsing Rao, a Velama from Telangana who became deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, wrote a booklet calling the movement for a separate Telangana a “suicidal slogan”.

In this situation, Andhra political domination and cultural hegemony marginalised Telangana culture further and brought back feudal oppression. The state-backed social and political oppression and economic hardships faced by the marginalised sections created the conditions for the Naxalite movement to gain ground in Telangana.

In the 1980s and 1990s, for people growing up in the North Telangana districts, especially Nizamabad, Adilabad, and Karimnagar. there was a parallel culture pushing back against the dominant Andhra culture. The everyday sufferings of common folk provided the ingredients for Naxalite mobilisational songs.

This was also the era when radio transistors were being replaced by tape recorders brought back by Dalit migrant labourers in the Persian Gulf. The recording and consumption of folk songs and ballads became an important alternative cultural medium. They stood in contrast to cinema songs, which sometimes had double meanings.

For decades, though few knew what Gaddar looked like, his voice became ubiquitous, echoing in the hinterland.

Small towns and villages became the centres that recorded and spread the folk songs and ballads of Gaddar and the singers of his Jana Natya Mandali such as Vangapandu, Dappu Ramesh, and Sanjeev and innumerable female artists. They articulated the suffering of people and inspired young people to dedicate their lives to armed rebellion.

By the late 1980s and 1990s, Telangana villages were inundated with a radical alternative culture, spearheaded by Naxalites and their sympathisers. Young people, cutting across caste lines, formed a solid cadre for the Maoist movement in villages and towns. They started a parallel government, made it difficult for the government to reach several villages unreachable to the government and delivered justice through people’s courts and dictated law and order. The police found it difficult to do their jobs.

As the government lost control over villages, it formulated with a two-pronged strategy: recruiting a special police battalion known as the Greyhounds to eliminate Naxalites through special combing operations; and appointing activist bureaucrats committed to addressing the problems of social and economic inequality through policy measures.

This resulted in massive state repression through so-called encounters or extra-judicial killings. Villages and forests across Telangana were turned into police camps. Gaddar’s songs exposed state repression and encounters as the root causes of people’s suffering went unaddressed. This made him an iconic figure.

Dalit killings and caste question

In 1985, landlords of the Kamma caste attacked a Dalit settlement in Karamchedu village in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district, killing six men and raping three women. Then, in 1991 Reddy landlords murdered eight Dalits at Tsunduru village. These incidents were significant turning points. Moreover, they highlighted the importance of caste in understanding the oppression of marginalised communities. The Naxalite movement was forced to acknowledge and address caste-based oppression and exploitation.

The difference between the top Maoist leadership and the Dalit leaders within the Naxalite movement forced KG Satyamurthy to come out of hiding and join the mainstream to organise people’s movements. Gaddar first appeared and performed in public on February 18, 1990.

Support for the movement grew among the urban middle-class and students. In response, state repression and encounter killings increased. In 1997, the police allegedly attempted to assassinate Gaddar. Four bullets hit him. He was taken to Hyderabad’s Gandhi Hospital. As he fought for his life, thousands of people from the villages poured into Hyderabad, forcing the government to give him the best medical care. He survived that episode but one of the bullets remained lodged in his body until his death.

Rebirth of the Telangana movement

The state repression, the marginalisation of Telangana, the dominance of of the capital Hyderabad by Andhra elites and the 1990s droughts and farmer suicides reignited the Telangana movement.

The massive mobilisation in the villages through folk songs and ballads by Gaddar and other activists produced thousands of artists across the villages. Gaddar emerged as a symbol of assertion. By raising public awareness about the issues involved, he and others sparked a new political awakening.

The ruling Velama and Reddy castes in Telangana sensed an opportunity to retain their social and political domination and captured the Telangana movement. K Chandrashekar Rao, of a powerful feudal Velama family, shrewdly manipulated the campaign to build political power around himself and his family.

It made Gaddar and many of his associates bite their tongues and rethink the Telangana movement. For some, it brought back memories of feudal Nizam rule in Hyderabad.

In the new Telangana state, which was created in 2014, the old ruling castes regained power and marginalised and ignored the sacrifices of people like Gaddar. It left many of them despondent about the future. They relaunched their struggles. Gaddar took many contradictory paths in this endeavor, including singing songs praising the Hindu saint Ramanujacharya. This made admirers wonder about his actions.

Despite all the vicissitudes, Gaddar remained a people’s champion till his death.

Let me end with an anecdote to illustrate this. In 2014, I went to Hyderabad and wanted to meet him. He asked me to come at six in the morning. I reached the main road to catch an auto at 5 am. I asked the driver to take me to Venkatapuram and the driver asked what work I had in that area so early. He asked if I was going to Gaddar’s house. I said yes.

He dropped me off at the poet-singer’s home and refused to take the fare.

Chinnaiah Jangam is Associate Professor at the Department of History, Carleton University.