Gaddar

Gaddar
Gaddar in a meeting in Nizam College Grounds- 2005
Personal details
Born	1949 (age 67–68) Toopran, Hyderabad State, India (now in Telangana, India)
Political party	Telangana Praja Front
Residence	Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Gummadi Vittal Rao, popularly known as Gaddar (born 1949), is a poet, pseudonym of a revolutionary Telugu balladeer and local Naxalite activist from the state of Telangana, India. The name Gaddar was adopted as a tribute to the pre-independence Gadar party which opposed British colonial rule in Punjab during the 1910s.

Gaddar was born to Seshaiah and Lachumamma in the Toopran village of the Medak district. His parents worked as labourers. He attended his early schooling in Bodhan of the Nizamabad district. After completing Pre University Course (then equivalent of 12th class) from a government junior college in Hyderabad, he joined RECW to pursue bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.

In 1969, Vittal Rao (Gaddar) joined the struggle for a separate Telangana state. He formed a burrakatha troupe named after Mahatma Gandhi to spread awareness about the Telangana issue. He was soon disillusioned. For a while, he gave performances on family planning and other social themes for the Indian government's information and broadcasting ministry.

B. Narsing Rao, film director and founder of a forum called 'Art Lovers Association' noticed Gaddar and was impressed by his performance. He invited him to perform at a program on Bhagat Singh's anniversary. After this program, Gaddar began attending the weekly meetings of Art Lovers Forum on Sundays. B. Narsing Rao also asked him to write and bring something along. At the next weekly meet, Gaddar brought his first song — Apuro Rickshaw (stop rickshaw). Narsing Rao suggested changes to link the song to their lives and their labour. This became the famous song: