3 min readRaipurMay 19, 2026 09:32 PM IST
A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared India ‘Maoist-free’, he warned people that it will “return in disguise” and urged people not to be misled.
Shah was addressing a press conference in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district on the second day of his two-day visit to Bastar Tuesday after chairing the 26th meeting of the Central Zonal Council (CZC), comprising Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Chief ministers of all four states attended the meeting.
Addressing a question about the lack of train services in Bastar, Shah said the Maoist conflict meant the region stayed behind in the race for development.
“We will empower all tribals, create infrastructure, irrigation facilities and railways will reach as well. Let this first phase end, then a complete development plan for Bastar will also be made,” he said.
May 19, 2026, marks the vision for comprehensive development in Bastar, he said, adding that in addition to the earlier announcement of converting 70 police camps into one-stop centres for over 370 government schemes and benefits, a dairy cooperative network would be set up in the next six months.
“Tribals need not go far for small things. We will also provide skill development and promote dairy activities to make them self-employed. We will give the tribals one cow and one buffalo. Through cooperative societies they will be able to sell their milk. Chhattisgarh’s Deputy CM has gone to Gujarat and understood the cooperative dairy model. In the next six months, we will create a dairy network in Bastar,” he said.
2031 was the deadline for a developed Bastar, he said. “I believe Bastar will be considered free from Naxalism only when the journey from security to trust, from development to prosperity, and finally to satisfaction is fully accomplished.”
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Since Naxalism spread due to poverty, the new police camps-turned-development centres would address the issue in future, he said. “Violence is not the solution for anything. Democratic values, mutual cooperation, and the concept of development alone can become the foundation of an individual’s progress,” he said.
He also cautioned tribals against the resurrection of the Maoist ideology, saying: “As Bastar moves towards becoming a developed region, I want to caution the people of Bastar that the same people (Maoists) who got influenced by Maoist ideology, picked up weapons and destroyed Bastar will come in disguise, with a new narrative and name. Don’t get misled by them”.
