Much has been written about Varavara Rao in recent times — the left has tried to turn him into a dissenting crusader, who has been unfairly imprisoned by the Indian state. News articles paint him as a frail old man, and describe him as a “poet-activist.” But a recently unearthed interview of his gives some insight into the man’s mind.
In an interview, the supposed poet-activist coldly justifies the killings of police personnel by Maoists. Speaking of the 2008 Balimela massacre, in which 38 Greyhound security personnel were killed, Varavara Rao says that because the Maoists saw the policemen traveling on a boat, they saw an opportunity and killed them. He went on to say that the presence of the policemen in those areas was itself unlawful, because Maoists didn’t believe in the constitution.
“You put your hand in an anthill, won’t they bite?” he continues. “You snakes are trying to occupy an anthill, won’t they retaliate?” he adds, referring to the policemen as “snakes”.
Varavara Rao goes on to say that the killings of Indian police personnel were justified, because the Maoists were engaged in a “People’s war.” Speaking of the Chattisgarh murder of policemen, he says that the CRPF personnel had no right to be there in the first place.
It’s incredible how the left has managed to turn a man who openly advocates for taking up arms against the Indian state as a hero: on Facebook and Instagram, leftists are making passionate pleas for his release from prison, comparing his incarceration with that of Arnab Goswami. But not too many people know of the man’s beliefs and ideology — over the years, he’s been arrested numerous times for covertly and overtly helping Maoists wage war against the Indian state. His latest prison term is for fomenting violence in Bhima-Koregaon in 2018, in which 2 young men had died and over 300, including many police officers, had been injured.
