“Naxalism will be uprooted in the next two years”: Union Home Minister Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah shared the success of the security forces in containing the Maoist related violence under PM Narendra Modi-led incumbent Union Government.

Chairing a significant review meeting on left-wing extremism (LWE) in Bharat, Shah said that Naxalism (Maoism) will be eradicated from the country in the next two years. Amit Shah further said that the government led by Narendra Modi has tightened the grip on Maoism over the last few years and the war against the extremists is in its final stages.

The high-level meeting which witnessed chief ministers (CM) of several states in attendance, including Maharashtra’s CM Eknath Shinde, Jharkhand’s CM Hemant Soren and Andhra’s CM YSR Jaganmohan Reddy was also attended by National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, several union ministers, Director Generals of Central Armed Police forces (CAPFs), union home secretaries, state home secretaries and Director General of Police (DGPs) of states.

The home minister said that “the vacuum areas of the Maoist have been shrinking since 2019 and as many as 195 new camps have been established by the CAPFs while 44 such camps will be opened soon. Deployment of CAPFs against left wing extremism, rationalisation of development and setting up camps in vacuum areas are the priorities of the Modi government.” Shah further emphasised on the need to maintain constant surveillance in the areas freed from LWE so that the extremist does not get the opportunity to arise there again.

Further while highlighting the success of the government in containing the Maoist violence the home minister said that due to our ‘zero tolerance policy’ against LWE, the lowest level of violence and casualties have been recorded in 2022 in the last 4 decades. The home minister cited that there has been a decline of more than 52 per cent in LWE related violence, 69 per cent in overall casualties, 72 per cent in security forces deaths, and 68 per cent in civilian deaths between 2014 to 2023 compared to the period from 2005 to 2014.

The union home minister further said that “the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate are working closely with all the state agencies to attack the financing of LWE. All the affected states need to make efforts by forming a joint team of civil and police administration to dismantle the network of financial support of LWE. The Modi government had also increased the ex-gratia amount for victims of LWE from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in 2017, now it has been further increased to Rs 40 lakh.

Shah further added that the union government is taking several steps to speed up the development in LWE affected states while special attention is being given to areas like road construction, telecommunication, financial inclusion, skill development and education. The central government has launched more than 14000 projects under the Special Central Assistance (SCA) scheme to accelerate development in the district most affected by LWE of which more than 80 % of these projects have been completed with a release of 3296 crore rupees under the scheme.

In the end, Shah concluded while highlighted that several infrastructure projects worth Rs 992 crore have been also sanctioned for the construction of fortified police stations, strengthening of state intelligence branches and special forces of LWE affected states while the Security Related Expenditure has been increased by more than double in the past 9 years of the incumbent government.

It is to be noted that the security forces under the incumbent central regime have achieved significant improvement in tackling the Maoist insurgency situation between 2014 and 2022 where the number of Maoist-affected districts reduced from 90 in 2018 to 45 in 2022. During the same period, there was a 52 per cent reduction in Maoist violence and as well as 69 per cent decline in the number of Maoist-related deaths as compared to the period between 2005 to 2014 that stands 6035 to 1868 respectively.

Additionally, the Central Government, in pursuance of its ‘zero tolerance policy’, has ousted the Maoists from their strongholds like the Budha Pahad on Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand border and in Bihar’s Chakrabandha and Bhimbandh. The Budha Pahad area has been a Maoist citadel for almost three decades and acted as host for central committee members.

During the same period, another Maoists fortress, Chakrabandha in Bihar was busted. It needs to be mentioned that the entire area was heavily mined by the Maoists and was indeed a ‘No Go’ zone for the security forces. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been establishing Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in the areas captured from the Maoists. Thus, making their regrouping extremely difficult.

Further similar achievements have been witnessed in Maoist affected region of Swabhiman Anchal in Odisha and Dandakaranya (Bastar), a hotbed of the Maoist insurgency in the state of Chhattisgarh where the security forces have forced the Maoist to retreat from their earlier strongholds.