Amit Shah reviews the LWE situation in Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states
A FORCE Report
During his visit to Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on August 24, Union home minister Amit Shah chaired a review meeting on Left Wing Extremism (LWE). Also, on his agenda was assessing the coordination between the chief secretaries and director generals of police of Chhattisgarh and the other LWE-affected states; and capacity building of the security forces.
The meeting was attended by chief minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnudev Sai, deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma, Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, Union home secretary Govind Mohan, directors of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Investigation Agency (NIA), director generals of CRPF, BSF, SSB and ITBP. Chief secretaries and director generals of police of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana also attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Shah said that the campaign against LWE was at a decisive stage. He reiterated that the government was committed to completely eradicate Naxalism from the country before March 2026. According to him, there was a need to work for ‘two more years with twice the speed and intensity than what was there at the beginning of the campaign against Naxalism, only then this problem can be completely eradicated.’
Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘fighting a successful battle against Left-Wing Extremism with a strategy on all three fronts of development, prosecution and operation,’ Shah said that the problem has now been reduced to a great extent and is limited to a few pockets of Chhattisgarh. He was also generous in his praise for the state government. According to him, the Chhattisgarh government has done much better work in the last seven months, during which maximum number of Naxal ultras have been neutralised, maximum have surrendered, and maximum have been arrested. He also pointed out that the Chhattisgarh government has started a campaign of 100 per cent saturation of government schemes and along with this, it has worked to increase the respect for Bastar Olympics, Paralympics, local art, culture and food.
Incidentally, several reports and videos have emerged in the mainstream media and on social media in the last few months pointing out that many innocent tribal, including school children, have been killed and labelled as Maoists. There are also reports of tribal men being tortured and forced to ‘surrender’ as Maoists to add to the statistics.
Coming back to the home minister’s review meeting, Shah said that to give more impetus to the campaign against LWE, all DGPs of Naxal-affected states should prepare an action plan by holding weekly meetings with their teams engaged in counter-Naxal operations. He said that the chief secretaries should also hold review meetings of the development work related to the Naxal-affected areas every fortnight. Unless the Naxal operations are not monitored continuously, ‘we will not be able to achieve the desired outcome,’ he said, adding that the fight is not only ideological but also about reaching development to the remotest regions. ‘People spreading LWE ideas mislead the tribal brothers and sisters and the entire community emotionally,’ he said, adding that only those Maoist ultras should be punished, who have reached a point of no return. Others should be encouraged to surrender.
Addressing the police chiefs, he said that the Joint Task Force (JTF) should have experienced and suitable forces available in every state as counter-Naxal operations require a specific sort of skill. ‘Only those officers should be deployed in it who are suitable for it and have knowledge of the area… the director generals of police should themselves review and make changes in the Joint Task Force accordingly,’ he said. Moreover, the special investigation agency (SIA) of the states needs to be prepared and trained for investigation and prosecution just as NIA does.
However, according to him, inter-state cases should be handed over to NIA for investigation, as it is necessary to prevent the financing of LWE, supply of weapons and their manufacturing. He emphasised that the focus should be on coordination through Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to better prepare the prosecution in Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) cases.
Later talking to the media, Shah said that the Modi government has worked to instil confidence among the people in development instead of the ideology of LWE. Calling LWE the biggest challenge before the democratic system of the country, Shah called upon the youth involved in it to shun violence and join the mahayagya of development.
He pointed out that in 2022, for the first time in four decades, the number of deaths due to LWE has come down to under 100. While the highest number of deaths was recorded in 2010 at 1,005, in 2023, this number came down to 138. Referring to CRPF’s ‘Bastariya Battalion’ raised in 2017, he said that all 400 troopers were from the Bastar region, from areas such as Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur.
Earlier, on August 7, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai said that the government of India approved a National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE in 2015. It envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities etc. On security front, the government assists the LWE-affected state governments by providing central armed police forces battalions, training, funds for modernisation of state police forces, equipment & arms, sharing of intelligence, construction of fortified police stations and so on. On the development side, the government has taken several specific initiatives with special thrust on expansion of the road network, improving telecommunication connectivity, skilling and financial inclusion.
According to him, in the last 10 years, Rs 6,908 crore have been released for capacity building of the LWE-affected states under the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS), Security Related Expenditure (SRE) and Special Central Assistance (SCA) schemes. Further, Rs 1,000 crore have been given to central agencies for helicopters and addressing critical infrastructure in security camps in LWE-affected areas, under Assistance to Central Agencies for LWE Management (ACALWEM) scheme.
Some of the developmental measures taken in last 10 years include:
- For expansion of road network, 14,395km of roads have been constructed, of which 11,474 km have been constructed in the last 10 years.
- To improve telecom connectivity, 5,139 towers have been installed in LWE-affected areas.
- For financial inclusion, 1,007 bank branches and 937 ATMs in 30 most LWE affected districts and 5,731 new post offices have been opened in LWE-affected districts.
- For skill development, 46 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 49 Skill Development Centres (SDCs) have been made functional in LWE affected districts.
- For quality education in tribal blocks of LWE-affected districts, 130 Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) have been made functional in LWE affected districts.
Consequently, the violence levels have been reduced by 73 per cent. The number of deaths–civilians and security forces–have reduced by 86 per cent. In 2024, until June 30, there has been a reduction of 32 per cent in LWE-perpetrated incidents.
The geographical spread of LWE violence has also reduced substantially–from 126 districts across 10 states in 2013 to only 38 districts in 2024 across nine states. The number of police stations reporting LWE violence has reduced from 465 in 96 districts in 2010 to 171 in 42 districts in 2023.