Chhattisgarh: A week after major operation against Maoists, Home Minister Amit Shah to address rally in Kanker today

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be addressing a rally in the Maoist affected Kanker district of Chhattisgarh during his three day tour of the state, which began on Sunday, April 21.

Home Minister Shah will address a public gathering in Kanker on Monday, April 19, from where the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Bhojraj Nag, a significant tribal face of the region, against the Congress party candidate Brijesh Thakur.

Shah’s visit comes against the backdrop of the Kanker encounter, which marked a historic success for the security forces where as many as 29 Maoists, including a few top cadres of the outlawed Maoist outfit, were killed.

Earlier, the Union Home Minister landed at Swami Vivekananda Mana Airport in State’s capital Raipur and chaired a meeting of the party workers at the BJP headquarters. Other than the Home Minister, BJP State president JP Nadda will also be holding rallies in the state, where Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund constituency under the 2nd phase on April 26.

Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be visiting the tribal dominated state on April 23 and 24 where he will be addressing political rallies in Shakti of Janjgir Chapa Lok Sabha constituency and Dhamtari of Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday, April 23. The PM is also scheduled to hold a political gathering in Ambikapur of Surguja district on Thursday, April 24.

Significance of Shah’s visit

It is noteworthy that this would be the first time that the Union Home Minister will address the masses in Kanker, which has been in the news lately after the fierce encounter that took place between the forces and the Maoist on April 16.

As many as 29 Maoist including 14 female operatives of the outlawed CPI Maoist were gunned down in the fierce encounter that occurred between the forces and the Maoist in the forest area of Binagunda-Korgutta under the Chotebethiya police station limits of Kanker.

The forces after the gunfight had recovered bodies of as many as 29 Maoist alongside seizing huge cache of AK-47 rifles, INSAS/SLR/Carbine/303 rifles, light machine guns and huge quantities of arms ammunition.

Taking to the twitter, the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah while congratulating the security forces on the encounter had remarked that Naxlism (Maoism) is the biggest enemy of peace and bright future of the youths.

In his tweet, the Home Minister further said that “we are committed to freeing the country from the bite of naxalism under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, the offensive policy of the government and the efforts of security forces have contained the spread of naxalism in a narrow space, very soon the State of Chhattisgarh and the whole country will be naxal-free.