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Long before it earned its reputation as one of India’s premier engineering institutes, according to a TOI report the Regional Engineering College (REC) Warangal — now the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal — was known in security circles for a very different reason: it was the cradle of India’s Maoist leadership. During the 1970s and 1980s, the REC campus became a hub of radical student politics, where revolutionary ideas thrived alongside academic brilliance. Students, hostel staff, and even faculty were drawn into a wave of left-wing activism that would eventually give rise to some of the most prominent figures in the People’s War Group (PWG) and later, the Communist Party of India (Maoist). TOI further reported citing Telangana’s Special Intelligence Branch, that many top Maoist leaders — including Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraj, Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, and Sadanala Ramakrishna — were all products of REC Warangal’s charged atmosphere. From students’ uprising to underground revolution The roots of radicalism at REC can be traced to the early 1970s, following the killing of George Reddy, a charismatic Leftist leader at Osmania University. His death ignited widespread protests, leading to the formation of the Radical Students Union (RSU) in 1974. The movement quickly spread to Warangal, where students began mobilising for revolutionary change. By 1978, Warangal had become the ideological epicentre of the student movement. At the RSU’s second state conference that year, chemical engineering student Azad was elected president of its Andhra unit — a position he held three times before joining the underground armed struggle.Live Events Police officials recalled to the news outlet that the situation grew so intense that a police outpost had to be established inside the REC campus. Revolutionary leaders like Kondapalli Seetharamaiah and K.G. Satyamurthy, founders of the People’s War Group, were known to visit the college to interact with students. Legacy & decline From REC’s classrooms emerged some of the movement’s key ideologues. Azad became the CPI (Maoist)’s chief spokesperson and intellectual anchor until his death in 2010, while Basavaraj rose to become general secretary in 2018, succeeding Ganapathy. His death in May 2025, during intensified anti-Maoist operations, marked the symbolic end of an era that began in the hostels and lecture halls of Warangal. The merger that redefined the insurgency The Maoist movement reached a turning point on September 21, 2004, when the People’s War Group merged with the Maoist Communist Centre of India to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This unification of Naxalbari’s fragmented offshoots consolidated decades of insurgent activity under one banner, with the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) as its armed wing. What began as a student-driven ideological movement in the 1970s would go on to shape India’s longest-running insurgency — one whose roots can be traced back to the radical corridors of REC Warangal.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) Read More News onCommunist Party of India MaoistPeople's War GroupMaoist leadership in IndiaREC WarangalNational Institute of Technology WarangalGeorge ReddyRadical Students Union (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)Read More News onCommunist Party of India MaoistPeople's War GroupMaoist leadership in IndiaREC WarangalNational Institute of Technology WarangalGeorge ReddyRadical Students Union(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless Prime ExclusivesInvestment IdeasStock Report PlusePaperWealth Edition123View all Stories
