Singer Gaddar obituary: Telangana’s voice of revolution is silenced

Renowned revolutionary poet and popular singer Gaddar passed away in Hyderabad on Sunday (August 6) afternoon. He was 77.

He was suffering from cardiac problems and age-related ailments for the past few days and breathed his last on Sunday while undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital.

According to the hospital health bulletin, he underwent bypass surgery on August 3, 2023, and recovered from a heart ailment. But his lung and urinary problems, coupled with advanced age, aggravated his health condition, which led to his death.

Drawn to Leftist politics

The singer, whose real name was Gummadi Vithal Rao, was popular as Gaddar.

He was born in 1949 into a Dalit family in Toopran village of Medak district to mother Lacchamma and father Seshaiah.

He completed his graduation and started working for a bank. However, he was drawn to the political movements that rocked the region in those days — first the Telangana movement and then the Leftist movement.

He chose the Maoist politics of CPI(ML) and sailed with it for almost three and a half decades.

Foray into politics

Gaddar was a born singer with an uncanny ability to weave a song instantly. His foray into politics began with the first phase of the Telangana movement in 1969 when he campaigned for the movement across the region with his own cultural troupe using folk art forms such as Burrakatha.

In 1971, he wrote the first song, Aapara Rickshaw, with the encouragement of another artiste, B Narasingrao. The album of his song came out that same year with the title Gaddar, which became his popular name.

His association with the revolutionary movement filled his songs with fire, and those became the messengers of the Naxalite movement. After the lifting of Emergency in 1977, Gaddar became synonymous with revolutionary songs. The spread of the Naxalite movement, then known as CPI(ML) People’s War, owes mainly to the songs of Gaddar and his cultural wing, Jana Natya Mandali.

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A man who produced revolutionaries

Thousands of students and youth joined the Naxalite movement inspired by his songs. He was like a factory that produced revolutionaries. There was no university in Andhra Pradesh that did not send youth into the Naxal movement in 1980s. In fact, the state considered him more dangerous than the hardcore Naxalites of the times. Ultimately, he was forced to go underground.

In 1997, Gaddar was shot at by five unknown assailants at his Alwal residence in Hyderabad. Though four bullets were removed from his body, one that stuck in the spinal cord could not be removed due to complications. Undeterred, he continued his journey till 2010 when he dissociated himself from the Maoist party.

But he became an active member in the second phase of the Telangana movement that was taking shape at that time. His songs were reborn during the Telangana statehood movement and electrified it. In fact, Gaddar’s songs are more popular than any of the superhit songs in Telugu movies.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that it would be difficult to find a person in Telugu states who cannot sing Gaddar’s songs. During the T-movement, his songs produced thousands of Gaddars in every village and took the statehood movement to every nook and cranny of the state.

The disillusionment

Among the songs written by Gaddar, Amma Telanganama Aakali Kekala Ganama became so popular that it reverberated in the region throughout the movement. The other song that energized the movement, Podustunna Poddu Mida, became the anthem of the Telangana movement that culminated in statehood in 2014.

In the recent past, he became rudderless. He was disillusioned by the rule of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the protagonist of the T-movement, like many other old-timers. He got associated with many anti-KCR parties in the name of realizing the true aspirations of the Telangana movement.

He even started visiting temples and interacting with saints. There were even talks that he was going to launch his own party. Gaddar’s death has put an end to all those speculations. However, his songs will continue to rule the roost.