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Indravelli Firing Incident (April 20, 1981)

Another Turning Point in Telangana’s Tribal History

The Indravelli Firing Incident, also known as the Indravelli Massacre, occurred on April 20, 1981, in Indravelli village of Adilabad district (now part of Telangana state). During this event, police opened fire on thousands of Gond Adivasis who had gathered for a peaceful rally organized to demand land rights and protection from exploitation. The tragedy marked one of the most significant and controversial episodes in post-independence Telangana, symbolizing both the assertion of tribal identity and the state’s repressive response to people’s movements.

Date: April 20, 1981
Location: Indravelli (Indervelly) village, Adilabad District of Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana).
Victims: Gond Adivasis
Estimated Death Toll: 60–250 (official 13 Gonds and 1 police constable, eyewitnesses 60+, EPW ~250)
Key Figures: Tanguturi Anjaiah (Chief Minister), K. Venkata Reddy (Home Minister), R. Bhaskar Rao (SP, Adilabad), M. V. S. Subba Rao (RDO), Kondapalli Seetharamaiah (People’s War Group founder)

Background

The Gond Adivasis of Adilabad were dependent on agriculture, podu cultivation, and forest produce. Lacking land titles and legal protection, they fell prey to moneylenders and landlords who kept them in a cycle of debt and dependency. Though laws like the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation Act, 1964 were meant to prevent alienation, weak implementation allowed widespread land grabbing by non-tribals.

The district had a long history of resistance — from the Babha Jheri revolt of 1940 against the Nizam’s officials to the Telangana Peasant Movement (1946–48). Anthropologist Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf later studied the plight of Gonds, leading to the Hyderabad Tribal Areas Regulation (1949), which sought to protect tribal land and customs. However, by the 1970s, most safeguards existed only on paper.

Rise of Tribal Mobilization

By the mid-1970s, the Radical Youth League (RYL), Radical Students Union (RSU), and the Girijan Rythu Coolie Sangham (GRCS) began organizing the Gonds to reclaim alienated lands. A local leader named Dasari Lakshmikantam, known as “Porkala Dora” or “Lord of the Bushes”, became a legendary figure among the tribals. He mobilized villagers against usurious moneylenders and corrupt forest officials, inspiring the formation of village sanghams (committees) to assert rights over forest lands.

Naxalite Connection

By 1980, Kondapalli Seetharamaiah, a prominent revolutionary leader, founded the People’s War Group (PWG). Through its tribal wing, the Girijan Rythu Coolie Sangham, the organization mobilized Adivasis for self-reliance and land protection. Government sources later branded these activities as “extremist agitation,” though investigations revealed the movement’s demands were democratic — focused on land restoration, debt relief, and forest rights. The state’s response, however, viewed tribal organization itself as subversion, setting the stage for confrontation.

Political Climate and Key Officials

In 1981, Tanguturi Anjaiah was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and K. Venkata Reddy was the Home Minister. The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Adilabad, R. Bhaskar Rao, was known for his hardline policing style, while M. V. S. Subba Rao, the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), acted as the ex-officio Executive Magistrate at Indravelli. Armed police camps had already been set up across Adilabad — nearly two dozen camps with 6–10 platoons each — and one of them was stationed directly inside the Zilla Parishad High School at Indravelli, indicating that security forces were already on high alert before the rally.

The Call for the Indravelli Rally

In March 1981, the Girijan Rythu Coolie Sangham called for a massive rally at Indravelli on April 20 to demand the implementation of tribal land rights laws, protest against forest department encroachments, and seek patta (title deeds) for their lands. Thousands of Gonds from Utnoor, Ichoda, Boath, and Asifabad taluks began their journey on foot or bullock carts. Initially, the authorities permitted the rally.

However, on April 19, the government revoked permission under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, citing a complaint from the “Society for the Protection of Rights of Non-Tribals,” which warned of violence. Police went around villages announcing prohibitory orders, but most Adivasis were already en route and unaware of the cancellation. Shops in Indravelli were ordered closed, the Monday shandy was canceled, and entry points into the village were barricaded by armed police.

The Firing at Indravelli

By morning on April 20, thousands of tribals — men, women, and children — had gathered near the Zilla Parishad High School. According to the Economic and Political Weekly report, SP R. Bhaskar Rao asked the RDO M. V. S. Subba Rao to sign firing orders after issuing them himself, reportedly under pistol-point intimidation. As the confused crowd pleaded to hold a peaceful meeting, police began using tear gas and lathi-charges.

When this failed to disperse the gathering, armed police opened fire from a jeep emerging from the school compound. Simultaneously, personnel hidden in haystacks and trees fired on the crowd. Witnesses described a scene of panic — tribals running across fields and streams, chased and shot at by police. Those fleeing were caught in crossfire from multiple directions, resulting in heavy casualties.

Cover-up and Conflicting Accounts

Official sources claimed the Gonds were armed with “spears, sticks, and chili powder” and had attacked police, killing one constable. Chief Minister Anjaiah and Home Minister Venkata Reddy justified the action as a defensive measure against an “armed mob incited by extremists.” However, the EPW correspondent and other investigators found no evidence of organized violence by tribals.

Hospital staff in Adilabad reported that injured tribals were stacked in vans, many dead on arrival, and that police prevented proper record-keeping. Only 13 deaths and 9 injuries were officially reported, though more than 60 bodies were seen at the site and **approximately 250** were estimated by independent observers. Witnesses alleged that several bodies were secretly cremated near Adilabad town. A district official who quietly documented victims’ photos identified at least 37 dead Gonds.

Government Justification

According to the Chief Minister, the Gonds were armed with spears, sickles, sticks, and stones; and according to the Adilabad District Superintendent of Police, they also carried chili powder. The SP claimed that the police opened fire on the crowd only after tear-gas shells and lathi-charge proved ineffective and after the tribals allegedly attacked about 30 policemen and five officials—spearing one constable to death and injuring others, who were, however, never medically examined.

The Chief Minister reiterated that the police had no choice but to fire “in self-defense” after being attacked by an unruly mob, while the Home Minister stated that officials had first persuaded the tribals to disperse peacefully, but that the Gonds had regrouped and attacked, being “instigated by extremists hiding in nearby villages.” These versions, however, were contradictory and issued separately on different occasions.

In support of the claim that “extremists” had provoked the tribals, authorities displayed pamphlets and copies of the radical publication Kranti, the mouthpiece of a left-wing group. The Home Minister even claimed that residents of Utnoor taluk had requested that the area be declared a “disturbed zone,” and that the government would consider it. The Chief Minister further stated that “frustrated by the government’s numerous development programs for the Gonds,” the extremists had “instigated them to violence.”

However, independent examination of these pamphlets showed that they contained no incitement to violence. They only demanded the return of lands seized by non-tribals and the forest department, the right to fell trees and cultivate forest land, and the implementation of the 1964 Act prohibiting sale of tribal land to outsiders. The publications criticized exploitative non-tribal landlords and even mainstream communist parties (CPI and CPI(M)) for siding with them—but nowhere did they call for violent action. This revealed a sharp gap between official rhetoric and factual evidence.

Aftermath and Impact

The massacre triggered widespread outrage among journalists, civil rights groups, and political activists. Yet, the government refused to order a judicial inquiry. No officer faced disciplinary action, and survivors were too afraid to identify victims or claim compensation. Many were arrested, and jails in Adilabad filled with detained tribals — including those who had only come for the weekly market.

The Economic and Political Weekly concluded that the Indravelli massacre was not an isolated incident but “an instance of autonomous police action carried out without prior political directive.” This observation foreshadowed a pattern of police impunity in Andhra Pradesh during subsequent counter-insurgency campaigns.

Consequences and Legacy

  • The incident deepened alienation among the Gonds and accelerated recruitment into the People’s War Group (PWG), whose membership in Adilabad reportedly rose from a few dozen to over 250 by 1982.
  • Indravelli became a symbol of state repression and tribal resistance, commemorated annually as “Indravelli Martyrs’ Day.”
  • A memorial was constructed in 1983 by GRCS president Ganji Rama Rao, demolished in 1986, and rebuilt in 1987 by tribals.
  • In December 2023, the Telangana government allotted land for a memorial park, “Sruthi Vanam,” at Indravelli, marking the first official recognition of the victims’ memory.

Significance

  • Revealed deep-rooted exploitation and administrative corruption in Telangana’s tribal regions.
  • Exposed contradictions between the government’s “tribal development” rhetoric and ground realities of suppression.
  • Marked a turning point in state-tribal relations and became a touchstone for debates on police accountability.
  • Inspired generations of activists, writers, and researchers to document Adivasi struggles for dignity and land.

References



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