Kishenji

Mallojula Koteswara Rao (26 November 1954 – 24 November 2011), commonly known by his nom de guerre Kishenji (), was an Indian Maoist leader who was a Politburo and Central Military Commission member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned terrorist organization in India; and also the party's military leader. He was seen as "The Face of the Maoism in India".

== Early life and family == Kishenji was born into a poor family in Peddapalli (in the district of Karimnagar, Telangana) which eked out a living on priesthood in nearby temples. His classmates remember him as "Kotanna", and describe him as being "like a live wire and full of ideas during school days". In 1973, after graduating from SSR College at Warangal, he shifted to Hyderabad to study LL.B. at Osmania University. His mother, Madhuramma, used to call him by the nickname, "Koti". On a night in 1974, when he was leaving home to go underground and join the Maoists, his last words to his mother were, "police are looking for me and so from today, do not even think about whether I am dead or alive." Going after Kishenji, the police knocked down the Mallojula family's house, during the "search operations" in 1982. After Madhuramma heard about the demise of her son, she burst into tears, and her first words were: