Gaddar

Gummadi Vittal Rao (1949 – 6 August 2023), known as Gaddar, was an Indian poet, singer, and communist revolutionary. Gaddar was active in the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency, as well as the movement for Telangana's statehood. Early life Gaddar was born as Gummadi Vithal Rao at Toopran in the Medak district of Telangana in 1949. Gaddar went underground in the 1980s and became a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War. He was part of its cultural wing and performed for crowds. A bullet remained in his spine after an assassination attempt in 1997. Until 2010, Gaddar was active in the Naxal movement, later identifying himself as an Ambedkarite. He adopted the name Gaddar as a tribute to the pre-independence Gadar party, which opposed British colonial rule in Punjab.