Amit Shah, the Union home minister, declared on Wednesday that the government of Chhattisgarh, which was formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December 2023, had intensified its efforts to eradicate the Maoists from the country. This came a day after 29 rebels were killed in an encounter with BSF and police in the eastern state.
“Since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the BJP government has been continuing incessant operations against terrorism and naxalism. These efforts have gained new energy after a BJP government was formed in Chhattisgarh. We started setting up security agency camps in 2014,” he said.
Shah added that 250 such camps have been opened by the security forces inside core areas previously under control of Maoists since 2019, ending the security vacuum.
He also stressed that 80 Maoists have been eliminated, 125 have been arrested and over 150 have surrendered since the new government took charge in Raipur.
“I can say with conviction that this will continue in the times to come, and under the leadership of Modi, we will uproot naxalism from our nation in a very short period of time,” he added.
An estimate by intelligence agencies and security forces suggests that the number of cadres in the armed wing of the CPI (Maoist) has depleted significantly, with only 2,500-3,000 now active across the country, said people familiar with the matter.
Although the action against Maoists had picked up pace since 2019, the security forces particularly changed gears in January this year after Union home minister Amit Shah visited Raipur.
During that meeting, Shah told senior officials from Chhattisgarh Police, the Central Reserve Police Police (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) and central intelligence agencies that they need to clear out Maoists from the region within a year or two, for which government will provide all resources necessary.
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