Raipur, Apr 6: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the ongoing offensive against Naxalites must not be reduced under any circumstances.
He stressed the need for better coordination between the local police and central security agencies to check the movement of Naxalites from one state to another.
Shah was speaking at a review meeting in Nava Raipur to assess the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) situation and operations underway against it, a government statement said.
He said the double-engine government (BJP government in the state and Centre) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been leaving no stone unturned to eliminate Naxalism before March 31 next year.
The menace will become a history in the entire country, the release said, quoting Shah.
Many generations bore the brunt of Naxalism. The destruction of the menace is necessary so that it does not gain its root again, he said.
“The ongoing fight against Naxalites must not be allowed to scatter,” he said, adding that it should not slow down at any cost.
There should be better coordination between the state police and central security agencies to nab Naxalites fleeing from one state to another, Shah said.
Expressing satisfaction in progress on both development and security fronts in Chhattisgarh, he said, the state should expand development works around security camps in villages under the ‘Niyad Nellanar’ scheme from a radius of 5 km to 10 km.
People of Naxal-affected areas should get equal opportunities for development, he said.
Under the ‘Niyad Nellanar’ (your good village) scheme, the state government has been providing benefits of 52 schemes of 17 departments and 31 community facilities in villages located within a 5-km radius of the security camps.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, top officials from the Intelligence Bureau, Union Home Ministry, Central Reserve Police Force, National Investigation Agency, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, and state police were present at the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Shah addressed the closing ceremony of Bastar Pandum, a cultural event organised by the state government for tribals, in Dantewada.
Shah said Naxals would not be able to stop the development of tribals in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region. He urged Naxalites to lay down arms while asserting that nobody is happy when they are killed.
The Union minister reiterated that the government is committed to eliminating the Naxal menace by March 2026, adding that those who surrender will become part of the mainstream. The rest will be taken on by security forces, he asserted.
Shah also met newly elected panchayat representatives of the Bastar region and interacted with commanders of security personnel involved in recent successful anti-Naxal operations, in Dantewada.
Notably, anti-Naxalite operations intensified in Chhattisgarh after the BJP came to power in 2023. Security forces have gunned down around 350 Naxalites in a string of encounters, mostly centred in the Bastar region, since last January.
In the latest strike, 18 Naxalites, including 11 women, were killed in twin encounters in Bastar region on March 29. (PTI)
