Raipur: Encouraging scenes emerged in Maoist-affected villages of Mohla Manpur Ambagarh Chowki district on the occasion of Deepawali on October 20 with villagers celebrating the festivals with personnel of Indo-Tibet Border Police [ITBP].
The district which shares its border with Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region and Maharashtra’s Naxal-hit Gadchiroli [both infamous strongholds of Maoists] has long been marred by red terror.
The villagers on Monday celebrated their first-ever Deepawali with ITBP jawans, showcasing trust and unity with forces, a scene which was quite rare in these landscapes till a few years ago due to fear of Naxals.
The villagers and jawans on the occasion were seen lighting earthen lamps [Diyas], celebrating with sparkles and sharing sweets with each other.
First Diwali Lights Up Hope!
Many remote villages in LWE affected Mohla Manpur Ambagarh Chowki district of Chhattisgarh bordering Gadchiroli and Bastar celebrated their first-ever Diwali with ITBP jawans. A heartwarming display of unity and hope sweets were shared, and smiles… pic.twitter.com/o0A2FMDizE
— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) October 19, 2025
Similar scenes also surfaced in Gariyaband district and Kanker of Bastar where surrendered Maoists celebrated the festival of Deepawali with utmost joy and happiness.
As per reports, majority of those who were seen celebrating the festival got the opportunity after a long gap given the fact that they were all away from their families and dear ones while operating from deep forested zones.
This include women Maoists who were celebrating the festival after a gap of 25 long years with happiness visible on their faces as they were no longer navigating through the difficulties of the guerrilla war. Reacting to the change, one of the Naxal operative said that we have already lost precious years of our lives by choosing the wrong path.
During our association years with the Maoist group we are not able to visit home or celebrate the festivals. There were only a few occasions when we met with family members as well. But now we all wanted to celebrate the festivals with the society and our family members, he said.
There was hardly any life in the forest except guns and fear. We are happy to celebrate Deepawali after a long gap, said another surrender Naxals who along with her wife have joined the mainstream after shunning the path of violence.
A major surge in surrender by Maoists has been noted in Chhattisgarh with over 2100 former Maoists laying down arms in state since December 2023 alone.
It is worth mentioning that security forces have amped up anti-Maoist operations in Bastar and adjoining regions with an aim to eliminate the Naxal menace by March 2026 as announced by the Union Government.
Other than security related measures, the state government has also announced a lucrative surrender policy alongside pacing up development works in regions marred by insurgency.
The state government has also launched the flagship Niyad Nellanar scheme which aims to provide benefits of all the Union and state run welfare schemes to the residents of Naxal-hit regions.
Historic milestone in eliminating Naxalism.
Today, number of most affected districts reduced from 6 to just 3, and affected districts to 11 from 18.Under Modi Ji's vision for a terror-free India, tireless counter-insurgency operations and people-centric development are…
— गृहमंत्री कार्यालय, HMO India (@HMOIndia) October 15, 2025
The battle against red terror has reached in its final stages as per a release by the Union Home Ministry with only 3 severely Maoist-affected districts in the country. The number of Naxal-affected districts has also decreased to 11 in October, 2025 as compare to over 125 districts around a decade ago.
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