Maoists biggest human rights violators; will eradicate Naxalism by 2026: Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said left wing extremism (LWE) was on its last legs in India and it was time for a “final assault and push”. He was addressing a review meeting with the Chief Ministers of eight states that house 38 LWE-affected districts in India.

Announcing that Naxalism would be eliminated by March 2026, Shah said for the first time in 30 years, LWE-related deaths had now fallen below 100 annually. “Now is the time for the final assault against Naxal violence,” he said, describing Maoist insurgents as the “biggest violators of human rights” and biggest hurdles to development, in that they were blocking the fruits of development from reaching 8 crore people, principally the tribal communities.

Shah said 80 per cent Naxal cadre strength of India was not localised in Chhattisgarh, which is home to 15 of 38 affected districts and was doing a fine job in countering Naxal terror. He said security forces were now carrying out “offensive operations” instead of defensive against insurgents and had achieved significant successes in recent times. He said the improved security situation had led to high voter turnout — up to 70 per cent — in Maoist-hit regions in the 2024 General Election. These regions saw zero polling earlier, he added.

The minister added that over 13,000 people from the Northeast, Kashmir and LWE-affected areas had surrendered arms to join the mainstream. Shah appealed to the youth linked to Naxal insurgency to renounce violence and return to the mainstream using the “lucrative rehabilitation policies of Centre”.

The meeting came close on the heels of security agencies eliminating 31 Maoist insurgents in Chhattisgarh in a major success. Shah stressed the importance of NIA’s “offensive strategy” against Naxals to clog the sources of their financing. To completely eradicate Naxalism, a final push was needed, Shah said, urging DGPs to review the issue every 15 days. The Home Minister said deaths of civilians and security forces had declined by 70 per cent and the number of districts reporting LWE violence had fallen from 96 to 16.

“The number of police stations reporting violence has come down to 171 from 465. Of these, 50 are new and this success is the result of joint efforts of all states and Centre,” Shah said, singling out Chhattisgarh for “great work”.