INDIA: Sonu (Venugopal) is a traitor of the revolution – People's war is our path: Maoist Party - CPI(Maoist)

unofficial traslation

Sonu (Venugopal) is a traitor to the revolution – people’s war is our way: Maoist Party 

The party has rejected the statement issued by the party’s official spokesperson Abhay (Sonu) saying that the Maoist Party is ready to give up the armed struggle in the wake of Operation Kagar. It has said that giving up arms and joining the mainstream means surrendering to the enemy and is a conspiracy to break the revolutionary movement. The party has made it clear that Sonu does not have the authority to hand over weapons to the government. It has directed the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army to seize the weapons from him. The party’s Central Committee official spokesperson Abhay (the newly elected official spokesperson) and the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee official spokesperson Vikalp have announced that their duty is to continue the people’s war to repel Operation Kagar and make the revolution successful. It seems that this statement was issued two days ago. Meanwhile, before the statement reached the media, another central committee member, Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, along with Vikalp (Katta Ramachandra Reddy), died in a fake encounter. The death of two top leaders immediately after Sonu declared that the party would continue the armed struggle while exposing the betrayal of the revolution raises many suspicions. 

The full text of the party statement released by Vikalp can be read below) Communist Party of India (Maoist) Central Committee Press Release September 20, 2025 

It is not our policy to betray the interests of the people by handing over weapons to the enemy and joining the people's life stream. Our duty is to continue the class struggle - the people's war to advance the revolutionary movement in the rear in accordance with the changed social situation. Since September 17, a press release issued by our party’s Polit Bureau (PB) member Comrade Sonu under the name Abhay, its audio file, and an appeal to the revolutionary people have been widely circulated in print, electronic and digital media. ‘In view of the changed international and domestic situation, and in view of the appeals being made by the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the top police officers to lay down arms and join the flow of life, we have decided to lay down arms,’ he announced in it. He also said that this is part of the efforts made by our party’s late General Secretary Amarudu Comrade Basavaraj for peace talks. This statement made by Comrade Sonu is his personal decision. Our Central Committee, Polit Bureau and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee completely reject and condemn this statement made by him. The changed international and domestic situation does not suggest giving up the armed struggle. In contrast, they are highlighting the need to continue the armed struggle. Imperialist exploitation and oppression of the oppressed races and people of backward countries are becoming more and more intense. In capitalist and imperialist countries, the capitalist class is further intensifying the exploitation and oppression of the working class and middle class people there in the name of ‘austerity measures’. The exploiting classes there are implementing fascism and racism. All this is the result of the imperialist economic and political crisis that is intensifying day by day. In our country, foreign and domestic big corporations belonging to the imperialist, broker-dealer capitalists are intensifying the exploitation and oppression in all sectors of social life, including agriculture, industry and services. With this, the broad masses (oppressed classes, oppressed social groups, oppressed races) in urban, plain and forest areas are highlighting the need to further expand and intensify the class struggle against the alliance of imperialist, broker-dealer, autocratic capitalist and landlord classes. The Brahminical Hindutva fascist RSS-BJP central and state governments are highlighting the need to resist the fascist attacks being carried out on the broad masses of the country in all spheres of social life. Economic and social gaps are increasing sharply worldwide and in our country. Neither in our country nor in the world have the daily problems of the people nor the fundamental problems been solved. In this situation, today's situations in our country nor in the world highlight the need to continue the armed struggle while coordinating legal-illegal, secret-open struggle and structural forms. Comrade Sonu's announcement that the disarmament was part of the efforts made by our party's General Secretary, the late Comrade Basavaraj (BR), for peace talks is a distortion of the facts. Although the late Comrade Basavaraj had announced in his statement of May 7 that he would discuss the disarmament with our core group, he soon realized the error in that statement and, since the central and state governments were continuing the Kagar war while ignoring the mention of peace talks made by our party, he called on the entire party, the PLGA and the revolutionary camp to withdraw it and resist the 'Kagar' war. It is under his guidance that today the party, the PLGA and the revolutionary camp across the country are resisting the 'Kagar' war to the best of their ability in legal and illegal forms. Comrade Sonu has deliberately distorted this fact. This malicious distortion is vile and condemnable. ‘The opinions of party members and party committees at various levels on the issue of laying down arms and joining the mainstream of people’s lives are

Collecting the opinions of our party workers and leaders who are in jail, collecting the opinions of revolutionary sympathizers, democratic, progressive, left-wing forces and organizations is an evil plan to split our party. We request Comrade Sonu to abandon this evil plan. We call on public organizations, party members, party committees at various levels, party leaders, party members, revolutionary sympathizers, democratic, progressive, left-wing forces and organizations who are in jail to reverse this evil plan. Saying that the Indian revolutionary movement has been defeated, Comrade Sonu stated in the statement titled ‘Appeal to the Revolutionary People’ that the reason for this is the mistakes of the extremist camel-riding followed by the party. If he thought that the party had adopted extremist tactics, it was his responsibility as a member of the Politburo to remain in the party and work to correct them. But he decided to give up this revolutionary method and join the stream of people's life. “At least now, the only remaining task before the party is to put an end to the dogmatic practice of the long-term people's war line, the armed struggle, regardless of changes in circumstances and times, the Chinese line, the Russian line, and to strive to make the Indian revolution victorious in a line suitable to the conditions of India and the time,” he stated in the ‘Appeal to the Revolutionary People’ statement. If the path followed by the party was dogmatic, he could have devised an alternative path and waged a struggle between the two lines in the party. He was not ready for that. Rejecting the armed struggle and declaring a temporary cessation of armed struggle would be to deceive the party cadres and the people. According to the theory of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the central task of the revolution is to seize state power. For this, we will wage armed struggle with armed force. Whether in the line of protracted people's war or in the line of universal rebellion, it is through armed force that the oppressed classes overthrow the exploiting classes from power and seize power. Since our country is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, our party is practicing the line of protracted people's war that seizes power region by region. Therefore, deciding to lay down arms and go for peace talks is contrary to the theory of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and our political-military line. Laying down arms means handing them over to the enemy, surrendering to the enemy. Surrendering weapons to the enemy and ceasing the armed struggle in the name of a temporary ceasefire means that the revolutionary party will become a revisionist party. Surrendering weapons to the enemy means betraying the martyrs and the broad masses of the country (oppressed classes, oppressed social groups, oppressed races). This is a blatant modern revisionism and revolutionary betrayal. Therefore, we demand that party members, party committees at all levels, party members in prison, party leaders and revolutionary sympathizers strongly condemn the revolutionary betrayal of Sonu, who is preparing to surrender to the enemy by surrendering weapons to the enemy. If he and his followers want to surrender to the enemy, they can surrender, but they do not have the authority to surrender the party's weapons to the enemy. Therefore, we demand that they be handed over to the party. If they do not surrender amicably, we are directing the PLGA to seize their weapons. It would be a fraud for him to declare a temporary ceasefire, since he rejects armed struggle, and the path he wants to follow is the parliamentary path. That is why it would be Prachanda-style neo-revisionism. In this situation, we inform you that he does not have the authority to issue press releases in the name of Abhay. It is the responsibility of the media spokesperson Abhay to adhere to the basic line, policies and resolutions of our party, convey the party's stance on political developments and give calls for struggle to the people. He, who has taken a completely different stance, does not have the authority to issue statements in the name of Abhay. The Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DK SZC) fully agrees with this statement being issued by the Central Committee. We call upon all party members, party committees and commands at all levels of DK to take this press release to all public associations in Dandakaranya, to all other local structures and to the people and to make political and structural efforts to firmly establish the people and public structures in the revolutionary movement. We still state that our party is ready for peace talks. We appeal to civil society and the entire people to build a nationwide people's movement to put pressure on the central and state governments to accept peace talks. In a situation where our party, PLGA and the entire revolutionary movement are suffering serious losses due to the revolutionary counter-war, surrendering to the enemy and surrendering to the enemy in fear of the enemy's attack would be a betrayal of the martyrs and the people. Our duty is to reject that betrayal and continue the class struggle-people's war in accordance with the changed social conditions, to help advance the revolutionary movement that is in the background. Setbacks and defeats in the revolutionary movement are temporary. The ultimate victory belongs to the people. The class struggle has been going on for thousands of years for a society in which no one on this earth can rob another. This class struggle is the great victory The revolution is going through a series of defeats and final victories. The final victory of this great journey is the establishment of socialism-communism on earth. For this, our duty-our path is to continue the class struggle-people's war in our country and in the world without fear of the setbacks and defeats of the revolutionary movement. 

In the revolutionary greetings Abhay Representative Central Committee Communist Party of India (Maoist) Vikalp Representative Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee Communist Party of India (Maoist)