Sheik Abdul Rawoof (1924 – 9 February 2014) was an Indian communist leader from Andhra Pradesh. He was known by the nom de guerre "Viswam" or by his initials "SAR". He was a senior cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) in Andhra Pradesh, and, as an ideological hardliner, went on to lead his faction after the CPI(ML) disintegrated. He served as the secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Naxalbari from 1998 to 2006. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with different criminal cases and spent a total of 12 years in jail.

Youth Born in 1924, Rawoof hailed from a middle-class Muslim family in Kutagulla village, Kadiri taluk, Anantapur district, in present-day Andhra Pradesh. He attended Kadiri High School and later obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Anantapur College. During his college years, he became a sympathiser of the Communist Party of India, influenced by the Telangana armed struggle, and subsequently became a party member.

Rawoof worked as a teacher at Kadiri Vemana Board School for a period. He studied law in Madanapalle, Chittoor district, and obtained his law degree in 1964. He initially worked as an assistant to a lawyer in Madanapalle before practising law in Anantapur district.Balagopal, K. Incarceration of S A Rauf: Right to Life vs Security of State. Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 21, no. 29, 1986, pp. 1249–5

Party leader in Kadiri taluk Rawoof contested local elections and became the first communist municipal chairman of Kadiri. As municipal chairman, one of his first actions was to cancel the housing tax for poor and middle-class residents. He worked closely with local communist leader Nizamvali.

During the 1964 split in the Communist Party of India, Rawoof sided with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). As a local leader of the CPI, and later the CPI(M), he was involved in mass organisation work in the Kadiri taluk area. In 1965, he was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act. Among his fellow prisoners at the Secunderabad District Jail were state-level CPI(M) leaders in Andhra Pradesh, such as T. Nagi Reddy and Chandra Pulla Reddy. They conducted political classes in the jail, which included critiques of the CPI(M)'s political line. While at Secunderabad District Jail, Rawoof, who until then had been a local-level leader, was exposed to political struggles beyond his home region.

Rawoof stood as the CPI(M) candidate for the Kadiri constituency in the 1967 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. He finished second in the constituency, securing 9,138 votes (21.20%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1967 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Naxalbari uprising As the CPI(M) was undergoing internal divisions, the Kadiri party unit was dissolved, and its cadres joined T. Nagi Reddy's Andhra Pradesh Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (APCCCR) en masse. Around this time, Rawoof met two Rayalaseema-level leaders, Mahadevan and C. K. Narayana Reddy, who informed him that T. Nagi Reddy was rejecting Charu Mazumdar's line on issues such as armed struggle, election boycotts, and underground party organisation. They advised Rawoof to organise his group independently, which he, along with others, began to do. In February 1969, the APCCCR was expelled from the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR). Rawoof was invited to the 28 February 1969 Guttikonda Bilam meeting, at which the new Andhra Pradesh AICCCR unit was to be organised, but was unable to attend.

He attended a state-level meeting of the AICCCR in Visakhapatnam from 14 to 16 May 1969 as a special invitee. Rawoof subsequently joined the AICCCR and became a member of its Andhra Pradesh State Committee. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested and detained in Visakhapatnam Jail under the Preventive Detention Act. While in jail, he met Adibhatla Kailasam, Nagbhushan Patnaik, Dr. Mallik, and several Girijan revolutionaries from the Srikakulam armed struggle. He was released after a few days.

Rawoof participated in the founding of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI(ML)) on 22 April 1969. Following party instructions, he abandoned his legal career. Later in 1969, CPI(ML) Andhra Pradesh State Secretary Chaudhuri Tejeswar Rao convened a meeting of cadres from Anantapur district, presenting the experiences of the Naxalbari uprising, Mazumdar's positions, and instructions to organise armed squads and initiate militant actions in the area. Preparations were made for actions in the Erramala region, but the plan was suspended. In early January 1970, Mahadevan convened the Rayalaseema Regional Committee of the party, which finalised plans for armed actions in Anantapur, Nellore, and Chittoor districts. On 17 January 1970, around forty cadres participated in the attacks. Following these events, Rawoof and six others went underground.

He attended the CPI(ML) Andhra Pradesh state conference in Mysore from 28 March to 2 April 1970, where he was elected to the nine-member State Committee of the party. Rawoof was elected as a delegate to the CPI(ML) party congress scheduled to be held in Calcutta on 16 May 1970 but was unable to attend due to logistical constraints.

Rawoof was one of four people to attend a CPI(ML) Central Committee meeting in Calcutta in June 1972, alongside Charu Mazumdar, fellow Andhra Pradesh leader K. G. Sathyamurthy, and Jagjit Singh Sohal from Punjab.Sumanta Banerjee. India's Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising. Zed Books, 1984. p. 204Naxalites Through the Eyes of the Police: Select Notifications from the Calcutta Police Gazette, 1967-1975. Dey's Publishing, 2007. p. 188 Years later, Rawoof recalled that Mazumdar had expressed self-criticism, referring to the critique from the Communist Party of China on the slogan "China's Chairman is Our Chairman" and the policy of annihilations.Amiya K. Samanta. Extremist Movement in West Bengal: An Experiment in Armed Agrarian Struggle. Firma KLM, 1984. p. 239

Following the arrest and death of Mazumdar, the CPI(ML) disintegrated. Rawoof aligned himself with the Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (COC, CPI(ML)), and served as a member of its Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee (state committee).Chinna Rao Yagati. Perspectives on Economic Development and Social Change: Essays in Honour of Professor K.S. Chalam. Rawat Publications, 2009. pp. 254-255

Jail In March 1973, Rawoof travelled to West Bengal with another person to establish contact with cadres who supported the Mazumdar line. On the night of their arrival, they were arrested at their hotel in Howrah. After spending ten days in police custody, Rawoof was transferred to a jail in Andhra Pradesh.

While imprisoned, COC, CPI(ML) leader Kondapalli Seetharamaiah wrote a self-critical report in 1974, calling for greater attention to mass organisations and mass movements. The report provoked strong reactions among other revolutionary prisoners, some of whom broke away from the party. Although Rawoof was critical of Seetharamaiah's position, he remained in the party at that time.

Following his conviction and life sentence in the Parvathipuram conspiracy case, Rawoof was sent back to West Bengal to face trial in the Alipore conspiracy case (also known historically as the Alipur conspiracy case), along with Kanu Sanyal and Souren Bose. He was imprisoned in the Presidency Jail, often kept alone in a single cell. After the Emergency ended, he was moved to a barrack where he stayed with other imprisoned revolutionaries.

At a court hearing in Calcutta, held after the 1977 Indian general election, Rawoof reaffirmed his loyalty to Mazumdar, argued against expecting change under the new government in Delhi, and called for the continuation of the armed struggle. Following the 1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, the Left Front state government withdrew cases against Naxalites, including the Alipore conspiracy case against Rawoof. He was then transferred to the Rajahmundry Central Prison, and later to the Secunderabad Jail at his own request.

APROC In 1976, the Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee broke away from the COC, CPI(ML). In 1977, after a period of reflection, Rawoof parted ways with the organisation in opposition to the new tactical orientation outlined in its "August Resolution", which called for a temporary suspension of armed struggle. Kondapalli Seetharamaiah argued that such a suspension was necessary in light of the opportunities that had arisen after the withdrawal of the Emergency. Rawoof described the August Resolution as "revisionist" and attempted to contact Seetharamaiah from jail to present his views. Revolutionary prisoners were divided between supporters and opponents of the Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee.

After breaking with the Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee, Rawoof formed his own party in Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganising Committee, CPI(ML) (APROC). APROC denounced the new leadership of the Communist Party of China under Deng Xiaoping, the Three Worlds Theory, and the line of the Party of Labour of Albania. It reaffirmed the "Charu Mazumdar proletarian revolutionary line", advocated the boycott of elections, and organised armed activities in Nalgonda and Warangal districts. An APROC armed forest squad operated in Warangal district.

CRC, CPI(ML) While in jail, Rawoof read copies of the publication Mass Line issued from Kerala. He instructed cadres to meet the Kerala group led by K. Venu and K. N. Ramachandran. In 1979, Rawoof's Andhra Pradesh Reorganising Committee, CPI(ML) (APROC) and K. Venu's CPI(ML) Kerala State Committee merged to form the Reorganisation Committee, CPI(ML), which was later renamed the Central Reorganisation Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CRC, CPI(ML)). The central leadership consisted of K. Venu, K. N. Ramachandran, and Rawoof.

Rawoof organised student movements under the name Radical Students Union, youth movements, peasant movements, and armed struggle activities. His group carried out attacks on police stations and landlords. The organisation's geographic influence expanded to Khammam, Karimnagar, Adilabad, Anantapur, and Nellore districts. An armed forest squad operated in the Asifabad area of Adilabad district. The CRC, CPI(ML) became known for "some notoriously brutal and sensational killings".N. C. Asthana, Anjali Nirmal. Terrorism, Insurgencies, and Counterinsurgency Operations. Pointer Publishers, 2001. p. 180 Rawoof's group was targeted by state forces and suffered heavy losses. Within a few years, around 40 members of APROC/CRC, CPI(ML) were killed, and the organisation was considerably weakened.

Rawoof disagreed with the tactical line adopted by the All India Conference of CRC, CPI(ML), held in January 1982 in Maharashtra. Following the conference, he wrote an article in Mass Line titled "Dare to think, dare to struggle", advocating the development of armed struggle. The CRC, CPI(ML) leadership adopted the slogan "Fight against dogmatism and fight against secretism", moving away from armed struggle and underground party organisation. The Kerala State Committee of CRC, CPI(ML) later adopted an analysis that class relations in India had changed, that feudalism no longer constituted the social base of imperialism, and that capitalist development was taking place in the country. Rawoof opposed these positions within the CRC, CPI(ML).

Imprisoned again