Union Home Minister Amit Shah claims that Maoists have been 'almost completely wiped out' from the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah claims that Maoists have been 'almost completely wiped out' from the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. On the other hand, the opposition says that the government should refrain from making such claims as 'complete wiping out' of any movement is never possible. However, Naxalite groups are still present in many parts of the country and their capacity to carry out violent acts should not be underestimated. 

Shah made the above claim in the Lok Sabha on Monday while replying to the debate on Left Wing Extremism. He gave four grounds for this claim: 1. There were 126 districts in the country affected by Maoist or Naxalite violence in 2014, now there are only 2 such districts; 2. Compared to the districts badly affected by Naxalite extremism, there is not a single district currently falling in the 'badly affected' category; 3. Setting up camps of central police forces in districts affected by Naxalite violence seemed very difficult in 2014. Now there are 406 such camps; 4. At that time, the central police forces used to patrol very rarely at night.

Now patrols are less during the day and more at night. Helicopters are also used with the help of patrol parties, for which 65 landing pads have been constructed for landing at night. The Home Minister said that from May 2024 to March 30, 2026, the number of Naxalites who surrendered was 4839 and the number of those arrested was 2218. The number of Maoists who died in 'encounters', according to him, was 706. He said that if the Modi government is patting its back for victory in the fight against Maoist violence, then no party should object to it.

There is weight in these statements of the Union Home Minister, this fact cannot be denied. But the reality is also that the entire battle was not fought by the Central Government alone; the State Governments have also contributed to it. However, it is not yet time to blame or blame the scapegoats. Maoist elements are still present in rural areas of Jharkhand and Bihar and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The killings of two tribals in Jharkhand and a schoolmaster in Telangana on Monday are proof of this. Moreover (as Trinamool Congress member Mahua Mautitra said in her speech) Left-wing extremism can be temporarily suppressed by government repression, but cannot be eradicated. The reason for this is that Maoism or Left-wing extremism is not limited to violent revolution alone, but is an important political ideology in itself. There is a philosophy behind this based on centuries of experience. Instead of dreaming of 'eradicating' such ideology and celebrating 'victory', the government should focus on instilling trust in the government system among the people of the violence-affected districts with humility and a sense of service.

Naxalism or Maoism is a nearly six-decade-old phenomenon in India. It began in May 1967 in the Naxalbari area of ​​West Bengal as a mass movement against social inequality. The then state government, in which left-wing communist parties were also partners, tried to suppress this movement severely, due to which it took a violent turn. Later, many theoretical and ideological conflicts continued to arise in it.

Many of its prominent leaders joined the national mainstream politics and are still contesting parliamentary, assembly and local body elections under the banner of the Communist Party of India (CPML). In the early 1970s, the youth of Punjab also saluted the Naxalite red flag, but the real thrust of this movement remained in Madhya Pradesh (later Chhattisgarh), Jharkhand and Bihar and Telangana and eastern Maharashtra. While this movement claimed the lives of thousands of Maoists, it also led to the martyrdom of hundreds of personnel of the central and state police forces.

At present, most of its top leadership has either been killed or surrendered. Only two commanders are left who are still underground and even while underground they have been issuing guidelines to the remaining party cadre. Amit Shah is sure that the undergrounding of these two will not help in the revival of Maoism. But he should not be under any illusions about this because the conditions that gave rise to the Naxalite movement in the country are still widespread in the country in the form of financial, educational and social inequality. So far, everything is fine, but even a slight indiscretion or arrogance can recreate the conditions that gave rise to Naxaliteism.