Surrender of a Maoist rebel leader in India will not weaken the Naxalites

INDIAN media is touting the arrest of Gudsa Usendi, a spokes–man for a regional committee of India’s Maoist militant rebels known as Naxalites, as a sig–nificant victory for the country’s counterterrorism efforts. Usendi, whose real name is Gumudavelli Venkatakrishna Prasad, served as the main media contact for the Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee’s regional command structure. However, the surrender of this key figure within the country’s Maoist insurgent movement is unlikely to be a blow to the Naxalites.

As a regional-level public relations officer for the group, Prasad was probably not involved in operational details. Moreover, it takes more than the loss of one personality — even a major figure — to seriously degrade a militant network for any period of time.