Security review in Raipur highlights gains from operations, infra push and financial crackdown
BuzzBytes
Raipur, Feb 8: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Centre’s multi-pronged strategy against Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) is delivering results and asserted that the Maoist menace will be completely eradicated before March 31.
Shah made the remarks after chairing a high-level security review meeting on anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur, weeks ahead of the Centre’s March 31 deadline to eliminate Maoist insurgency. Sharing photographs of the meeting on X, the Home Minister said, “Today in Raipur, I held a review meeting with the Chhattisgarh government and officials on anti-Naxal operations. The security-centric strategy, infrastructure development, targeting of the Naxal financial network and the surrender policy have yielded positive results, and Naxalism will be completely eradicated before March 31.”
The meeting, held at a hotel in Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, was attended by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, the Union Home Secretary, the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, and the Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Chiefs of central armed police forces, including the CRPF, BSF and ITBP, the Director General of the NIA, and Directors General of Police of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Telangana, besides several senior officers, were also present.
Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, comprising seven districts and sharing borders with Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, has long been considered the strongest bastion of Maoists. However, intensified anti-Naxal operations over the past few years have considerably weakened the extremist movement in the region.
According to police data, since January 2024, more than 500 Naxalites, including top cadres such as CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, have been killed in encounters in Chhattisgarh. During the same period, around 1,900 Naxalites were arrested and over 2,500 surrendered in the state.
The Home Minister said the Centre’s approach combining focused security operations, faster infrastructure development, choking of Maoist financial networks and an effective surrender policy is delivering tangible outcomes on the ground and will continue until the LWE threat is fully neutralised.
