Folk Singer Gaddar No More
Gummadi Vittal Rao, popularly known by his stage name "Gaddar," is a revolutionary Telugu folk singer, poet, and activist from the state of Telangana, India. He was born on January 2, 1949, in the village of Toopran in the Medak district of the then united Andhra Pradesh state.
Coming from a poor family, Gaddar had to face extreme hardships during his early years, which helped shape his revolutionary thoughts and ideas. He had an innate talent for writing poetry and singing, which he used as powerful mediums to propagate his views and beliefs.
Gaddar started his career as a teacher, but he quit his job to join the radical communist movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s, which aimed to uplift the underprivileged and marginalized communities in society. He was deeply influenced by Marxist and Maoist ideologies and sought to use his artistic talents to spread these ideas among the masses.
He played a key role in the Telangana agitation
An extensive political movement that demanded the creation of a separate state of Telangana from the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh. Gaddar's soul-stirring songs and performances became a voice for the movement, rallying people together to fight for their rights.
Gaddar founded the Jana Natya Mandali, a cultural wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), which used music, dance, and theater as forms of protest and resistance. The group performed across the length and breadth of Telangana, highlighting the issues faced by the rural poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed.
Gaddar's folk songs, charged with revolutionary rhetoric, touched upon issues such as social injustice, economic inequality, and political corruption. He often performed in a typical folk style, wearing a turban and dhoti, with a nadaswaram (a traditional wind instrument) hung around his neck.
In 1997, Gaddar survived an assassination attempt which left him severely wounded. He accused the police of being behind the attack, but this was never proven.
Gaddar announced in 2018 that he would contest in the upcoming Telangana state assembly elections, marking his formal entry into electoral politics. His aim was to bring about revolutionary change through the democratic process.
Please note, this information is accurate up until my training data in September 2021. For more recent updates, please check the latest sources.
