For the communities denied any mainstream cultural space, Gaddar bridged the oral and the written word.
On August 6, 2023, a powerful voice that spoke from the heart a poetry hopeful of the coming dawn of liberation from poverty and oppression fell silent. For an entire generation, Gaddar, whose real name was Gummadi Vithal Rao, represented the ordinary working people toiling in fields and factories, women, and farmers especially from the marginalised communities.
Growing up in his native village of Toopran, Gaddar’s early reflections speak of the influence of his father who was an ardent Ambedkarite and also a devotee of Lord Shiva. According to his father, this god was very ordinary, devoid of any ornamentation, unlike other gods. When the villagers denied them entry into the temple, his father established Lord Shiva’s idol at his home and challenged the dominant caste groups. His entire life was spent in struggling against caste, patriarchy, and state repression.
For many university and college students in the 1980-90s like me, Gaddar was the poet of the revolution. He himself was drawn into the Naxal movement and soon became its cultural voice —through Jana Natya Mandali— after his education as an engineer. Dressed in his trademark attire of a white dhoti, black and red ‘kambali’ (blanket), and ‘ghunghroos’ (small bells used for dancing tied on the feet), and a stout stick to lean on, he would break into impromptu songs on caste prejudices and atrocities, exploitation of labour, the Constitution, control over land, market economy, etc. and the audience would listen spell-bound. Often we would hear many fellow students who joined the Naxal movement and also other popular democratic movements enthused by his poetry and songs.
In 1985, the caste carnage in Karamchedu (Guntur, Andhra Pradesh) made Gaddar to express his angst through powerful songs which challenged the then ruling landed castes. The song turned out to be the anthem of the anti-caste struggle and the Ambedkarite movement. The lyrics were: “dalita pululamma, arey karamchedu, bhooswaamula meeda kalabadi nilabadi poru chesina dalita pululamma (we are the Dalit tigers who fought and stood against the landlords of Karamchedu)”.
Gaddar composed songs on the series of caste atrocities which occurred after Karamchedu. One of the lines of his song reflects his deep concern for workers: “yeh beej bhi hamse keh raha hai; hum mazdoor ki aulad hai (even the seeds are telling us that we are the children of the labourers)”. Another popular song addressed the Telegu mothers: “that I am coming to you in the form of songs to question exploitation and to liberate the people”.
Through such songs, Gaddar voiced the concerns of the unfortunate victims and provided them with a semblance of dignity. Gaddar came out of the Naxal movement in 2010 citing his differences on the issue of caste within the Marxist beliefs. He then turned his attention to the Ambedkarite ideology and felt that the country’s philosophy should be based on the Constitution. The intellectual class should pay back to society by empathising and supporting the poor and the downtrodden.
Despite his political career witnessing much turbulence, Gaddar always sided with the margins. For him songs, poetry, music, and dance were not to soothe the audience but served a political purpose. Through his performances, Gaddar forced the audience to think and reflect and develop a critique of their lived realities of daily oppression. For the communities denied any mainstream cultural space, Gaddar bridged the oral and the written word.
Gradually, Gaddar started believing in electoral politics to usher in change. Ironically, his Telangana Praja Front was banned by the Telangana state despite him being one of the ardent voices in demand of a separate state. He pointed out that a separate state was necessary to liberate the people from landlordism and ensure they have access to natural resources but once Telangana was formed, the reality was different. Apparently, his vision for a more democratic state was an anathema to the ruling forces.
Ideologically, Gaddar remained committed to challenging the increasing influence of the corporate forces. He enumerated four enemies of the people —the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the multinational corporations (MNCs)— who he argued were out to exploit the resources and leave the common people bereft of any agency over their economic choices. Often, he spoke for these institutions: “Profit is my God; Cheap Labour is my Country, and Market is my Philosophy”.
While reminiscing about his life, Gaddar reflected that if even 25 percent of the constitutional provisions had been implemented effectively, an armed struggle would have been avoided. He considered the state as the worst oppressor when it comes to the concerns of the weaker sections of society — Dalits, tribals, minorities, and backward castes. He survived an assassination attempt in 1997 when unknown assailants —Green Tigers— fired at him and he lived for 25 years with a bullet lodged in his spine.
All of Gaddar’s songs and poems were based on raising social consciousness for a structural transformation. He accepted only one award in his life — the Basavanna Award in 2016. He did so as the award was named after Basavanna, the anti-caste crusader and he gave away the Rs 1 lakh cash prize to the victims of communal violence.
Gradually, Gaddar came to epitomise an epistemic source for the academia. Now students are pursuing research on him and his songs and poems are scrutinised for their revolutionary fervour. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he never compromised on his ideals and never succumbed to the lure of lucre. His words will be sung by the generations to come who will be enthused to fight all forms of oppression.
(N Sukumar is a professor of political science at the University of Delhi.)