Home Minister Amit Shah’s Bastar Visit Shows ‘Mission 2026’ To End Naxalism In Chhattisgarh On Track
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However, the real challenge is to wean Bastariyas away from the ideology of Naxalism and co-opt them into India’s growth story
The home minister during his Gundam visit, told villagers to regularly send children to school. (File photo/ANI)
A village in India sees an electric bulb light up for the first time, another celebrates Doordarshan signals flickering on TV sets, and a third is elated that children finally have a school and a teacher. It does not matter to them that the school is a jhopdi—a thatched hut—and the electric bulb lights up only for a few hours.
The stories from Enmetta in Narayanpur, Puvarti in Sukma, and Chhuwahi in Bijapur are the real signs of Bastar getting what the rest of India takes for granted—the loosening grip of CPI (Maoist).
Hope flickers
Enmetta was one of the home grounds of Naxal commander Dosel. Puvarti is the village of Hidma, commander of the most dreaded PLGA battalion 1 and many held responsible for numerous massacres of policemen.
Union home minister Amit Shah visited the Gundam “forward operating base” this week. Gundam till last year was a location for Naxal training camps, a location for regular celebrations of Shahidi Diwas by CPI (Maoist), just 10 km from Puvarti. In February this year, the Central Reserve Police Force established its camp here. Before that, it was unthinkable that the home minister of India could not just visit such deep pockets of Naxal territory but sit under a mahua tree and meet villagers.
New camps key to making Bastar Naxal-free
The security forces have opened 289 new camps in Naxal-affected areas in the last five years. This year, in Bijapur alone, four camps were opened: Gundam, Chutuwahi, Kondapalli, and Batebabu. 40 police camps have been set up by the Chhattisgarh government.
According to home ministry data, the casualties of the security forces have come down dramatically in the last 10 years across the country.
There were 16,463 incidents of Naxal violence between 2004 and 2014, which reduced by 50 per cent to 7,744 in the 2014-2024 period.
Similarly, deaths of security personnel have come down from 1,851 in 2004-2014 to 509 in 2014-2024. Casualties of security forces have also come down from 4,766 to 1,495 in the same period.
In the past year, 287 Naxals were killed, 992 were arrested, and 831 others surrendered before security forces.
The statistics give the security forces hope that they will be able to meet the target of making Bastar “Naxal free” by 2026, as envisioned by Amit Shah.
But, as the home minister emphasised in his interaction with villagers and officials this week in Bastar, area dominance through camps is only step one in his end goal of making Chhattisgarh Naxal-free by 2026. The real challenge is to wean Bastariyas away from the ideology of Naxalism and co-opt them into India’s growth story.
Development
The home minister during his Gundam visit, told villagers to regularly send children to school. He inspected the medical facilities, the school, and also steps that are being taken to ensure government schemes of free ration and free treatment reach the villagers.
The push for these basic facilities is important since the only sarkar (government) villagers in interior Bastar have known is the Janatana Sarkar of CPI (Maoist). Many have only known “Laal Salam” as a greeting and celebrated Naxal Shahid Diwas, not August 15 or January 26.
State government data says that in the past year, 27 roads totalling 98 km, 2 bridges, and 103 culverts have been built to improve access to these areas. Roads have borne the brunt of Naxal attacks since motorable roads give forces quick access to interiors. Road connectivity also ensures teachers from block headquarters reach schools in the interiors, pregnant women and sick children reach the nearest health centre, and government officials take government policy benefits to villagers.
But the biggest challenge in this war against the Maoist ideology is to win the confidence of the Bastar tribals. They have waged a long battle to safeguard their Jal, Jungle, and Zameen. The challenge for the government is to convince them that none of the three will be usurped. Penetration of smartphones, education for youngsters, and helpful security forces might prove to be the game changers in this quest.
