IPS probationers encounter dreaded Maoist Chandranna at Hyderabad Police Academy

It has all the ingredients of a potboiler from Bollywood. The scene covers an unusual encounter between a surrendered hardcore insurgent and young IPS probationers, with the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy at Hyderabad playing host. The stage is now set for an encounter to begin between a man who spent 45 years in underground Naxal operations and young IPS officers preparing to begin their policing careers.

Suddenly, Maoist central committee member, Pulluri Prasada Rao, known for decades as Chandranna, walks in.

It is now the time for action. And it begins with Chandranna being bombarded with questions about Maoist organisation by the probationers, about how the organisation operated for so long, who sustained it, how networks were built, and how weapons and logistics moved through the jungles.

Chandranna answers every question and tells the IPS probationers that Maoists never targeted police officials who were upright and stood for the cause of the people. The top Maoist leader urges the young officers to anchor their careers in public service.

Chandranna had surrendered to Telangana police on Oct 28 this year.

In the interaction, the 64-year-old top Naxal leader reflects on his own surrender and says, “Forty-five years underground gave me nothing personally, but we could impact the lives of the people.” But his faith in Maoist ideology remains intact. Then, why did he surrender? He points out, “We are joining the mainstream to fight for the people, among the people.”

The probationers also asked how he planned to navigate a technology-driven world after decades in the jungle. Chandranna replies that he and other surrendered cadres now want to work for people democratically as per the changed situation. “Our cadres are still among the people,” he blurts out.

For the young IPS officers, this was part of their left-wing extremism module at the NPA—a detailed programme covering counter-insurgency, anti-Naxal strategy, and jungle warfare in collaboration with the Greyhounds, the elite anti-Naxal force.

But, undoubtedly, for many of these IPS officers, listening to Chandranna tracing his journey from the forests to the mainstream offered a new perspective no classroom module could match.