Adibhatla Kailasam

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Adibhatla Kailasam was an Indian communist leader and one of the early pioneers of the Srikakulam peasant uprising in Andhra Pradesh. He came from a landlord family in Kaarivalasa village, Srikakulam. After the government abolished inams, Kailasam led peasants in a long legal fight against his own father and won tenancy rights for the tenants.

Kailasam worked as a teacher in an aided school owned by his family. His father dismissed him after Kailasam spoke at a communist rally during the 1955 Madras assembly elections, but Kailasam challenged the dismissal in court and won. He then left the job to become a full-time communist activist.

During the Sino-Indian War, Kailasam and other communist leaders were arrested and released after the war. After the Communist Party of India split, he joined CPI(M) and later CPI(ML). He became the secretary of the CPI(ML) state committee in 1970 and was elected to its central committee at the party congress that year.

In the early 1960s, Kailasam and his colleague Satyanaraya organized tribal peasants in Srikakulam. Repression by authorities and violence from moneylenders and landlords intensified the struggle, and two Adivasis, Koranna and Manganna, were killed. This heightened the movement and contributed to further splits within the movement. The CPI(ML) decided to launch an armed struggle, and on 10 July 1970, following a tip from an insider, Kailasam and Satyanarayan were shot dead at Bori Hills.