On his first visit to Bastar after the March 31 deadline that he had set to eradicate Left-wing extremism, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday declared India “Naxal-free”.
“I proudly declare — India is now Naxal-free,” said Shah while reiterating that the development work in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, which was once the epicentre of the Maoist movement, would be expedited in the next few years to bring it on par with the rest of the country.
At the event in Jadgalpur in Bastar district, Shah was addressing personnel from the various security forces that took part in anti-Maoist operations, as well as family members of security personnel and civilians killed in Maoist violence.
He began his speech by saying, “This is a very big day for Bastar. Aaj yaha khada rehkar seena tan ke keh sakta hoon Bharat Naxal mukht ho chuka hai. (Standing here today, I can proudly say with my head held high that India has become free of Naxalism). All credit for this achievement goes to our security forces, and I bow before you. This was a dream — a dream for which thousands of jawans made the ultimate sacrifice to turn it into reality.”
“From 1971 to 2026, the public suffered like a nightmare. A lot of bloodshed took place. Three generations were wasted. I am very happy that our target was achieved by our brave soldiers in three to four years,” he said.
After Shah set March 31, 2026, as the deadline to eradicate Left-wing extremism from the country, security forces had stepped up anti-Maoist operations, especially in the Bastar region over the last two years. This resulted in the killing of hundreds of Maoist cadres and the surrender of hundreds more, including senior leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist).
Shah said that when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, India faced security issues in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, as well as the spectre of Left-wing extremism. “Today, by and large, India is free of all three issues and is on the road to development,” Shah said.
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His new target, the Home Minister said, was making Bastar the most developed tribal region in India in the next five years. He announced that 70 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) camps would act as a one-stop centre for all development activity, providing around 370 government benefits and schemes.
Due to Naxalism, Shah said, government benefits like rice procurement at Rs 3,100 per quintal, seven kg free rice distribution, 15% reservation in government jobs, or even basic education for tribals could never reach many areas of Bastar.
Talking about his experience with surrendered Naxals, Shah said, “I asked them how they joined Naxalism. They said they took all of us when we were studying in class 3. Their lives got destroyed.”
He said an elaborate plan has been sketched out for the 3,000 surrendered Naxals, and Rs 20 crore has been spent on skilling and educating them so that they can return to the mainstream.
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Shah said the idea of a developed India 2047 is incomplete without a developed Bastar. “I want to make it clear that without a developed Bastar, the dream of a developed India is incomplete. I say this with conviction that Naxalism is now over, and it is the responsibility of the state and central government to make up for the damage done in the last 50 years. We will make up for this in the next few years and will complete the dream of developing Bastar. Till then, we will not accept that our target is completed,” he said.
Shah ended his speech by saying the Home Department would take care of development activities, like roads, rural development, bank branches, post office, gas cylinders, tap water supply, free ration and electricity.
He made a special mention of District Reserve Guards and the CRPF’s elite CoBRA commandos, saying, “They fought with a lot of bravery and played a major role in achieving this milestone.”
