“We believe we will be able to free the country from Left Wing Extremism by March 2026…53 percent drop in Naxal incidents during 2014-24 as compared to 2004-14 period,” he said during a press meeting.
Shah was peaking at a press conference after the first day of the three-day Anti-Naxal review meet concluded in Raipur.
The union minister further informed that the meeting was held to ensure complete saturation of Central and Chhattisgarh government’s schemes in the naxal affected areas, progress of infrastructure projects in such areas and to remove the challenges faced during counter-Naxal projects. He stressed that a strong hand and a ruthless strategy is required to end Naxalism or Left-Wing Extremism in the country.
“Strong, ruthless strategy required for launching last assault against Naxals. 100% saturation of Central govt and Chhattisgarh government’s schemes in the Naxal affected areas, progress of infrastructure projects in such areas and to remove the challenges faced during such projects, this meeting was for that…Time has come to carry out the final assault along with ruthless politics to tackle leftism and Naxalism,” he said..
Speaking during the press brief, Shah further said that the PM Narendra Modi-led BJP government will tackle the Naxalism problem with the two-pronged approach of disarmament and development. “Over the past four decades, the Left-Wing Extremism claimed nearly 17,000 lives. Our government, led by Prime Minister Modi-ji, has acknowledged this issue as a challenge. Our government has been efficiently addressing this issue from two angles: disarmament and development…We worked with two objectives – firstly, to establish the rule of law in Naxal-affected areas. Secondly, to ensure development by removing destruction,” he added.”There was a lack of development in this area, individual development, village development and regional development…It has been our endeavour to bring these three areas of development at par with the whole country and there has been very good development in these areas,” the union minister said, digging into the previous UPA government regime at the Centre.
He also noted that the lowest death toll recorded from Naxalite attacks were lowest between from 2014 to 2024, since the BJP government came to power at the Centre.
“In 2022, for the first time in four decades, the number of deaths fell below 100. Notably, the lowest number of Left-Wing Extremism incidents were recorded between 2014-2024,” Shah said.
The meeting witnessed the participation of chief secretaries and director generals of police from neighbouring states including police chiefs of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal–the states where Naxalism has been constricted, as per the latest data collated by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Besides, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and Director Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Chief Anish Dayal Singh are also expected to attend the meetings.
It focused on measures against Naxal insurgency and infrastructure development.
