Maoist fire another shot at peace, after pushback seek time to till February to finalise total surrender

The CPI (Maoist) Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Special Zonal Committee (MMC Zone) has issued a press communication to the Chief Ministers , Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Vishnu Deo Sai and Mohan Yadav (Chhattisgarh CM and HM) and Mohand Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), expressing its intent to give up arms and accept government rehabilitation. In the statement, signed by spokesperson Anant, the committee requests time until 15 February 2026 to complete its internal decision-making, noting that this timeline falls within the government’s own stated “deadline for Maoism” of 31 March 2026.

According to the press release dated on November 22, the move follows a decision by Central Committee and Politburo member Comrade Sonu Dada to relinquish weapons and temporarily pause the armed struggle after assessing “the changing circumstances of the country and the world”. The letter states that CCM Satish Dada and Comrade Chandranna have supported the same line, and that the MMC Special Zonal Committee also “wants to give up weapons and accept the government’s rehabilitation and re-mainstreaming plan”.

The committee says it is seeking time because the party functions on the principle of democratic centralism, and a collective decision requires communicating with cadres spread across the tri-state region. The letter stresses that there is “no other hidden objective” behind asking for time until mid-February 2026, and explains that, in the absence of “any other simple means to communicate quickly”, a longer window is needed to convey the decision internally. It explicitly notes that the requested date is still within the government’s own timeline, referring to the 31 March 2026 deadline set “for Maoism”.

The press release appeals to the governments of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to temporarily halt security force campaigns, including during the upcoming PLGA Week, and to stop operations based on informer inputs. In return, the MMC Zone assures that it will not observe PLGA Week “this time” and will pause all its activities, arguing that only “when such efforts happen from both sides” can a conducive atmosphere be created for dialogue and a “better decision” acceptable from the government’s point of view.

The committee further requests that the contents of the letter be broadcast on radio for the next few days, describing radio as the only effective medium through which its cadres regularly access national and international news. It asks that both its statement and any government response be aired “just before the evening regional news”, so that the message reaches its members “as quickly as possible”.

A key part of the appeal is a request that, during this period, the three state governments give the committee an opportunity to meet certain public representatives and journalists. According to the press release, such meetings would help “collectively make an early announcement of the fixed date of giving up weapons and accepting the government’s rehabilitation plan”. The committee says this will be possible only if security operations are temporarily stopped and a “favourable atmosphere” is created by the authorities until the requested date.

The MMC Zone states that, after this request letter, it will wait for the governments’ response and will then issue one more press release announcing the specific date on which it will surrender weapons. It also appeals to comrades Sonu Dada and Satish Dada to place these demands before the three state governments and press for “adequate time”.

The press release further calls on “public-spirited public representatives, journalists, and YouTubers-journalists” to mediate between the group and the governments, urge authorities to consider the appeal, and cover the development on their platforms, similar to the role they are said to have played earlier in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

The statement concludes with an appeal to all cadres across the zone to immediately pause all activities until the process moves forward and until the message, disseminated through the requested channels, reaches them “here and there”.