Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the fight against Naxalites is in its final stage and if they do not mend their ways, the final blow will come and we will make the country free from the Naxal problem by March 2026. He said this in a press conference after the interstate review meeting of Naxal-affected states in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.
The Union Minister said that the time has come to launch a final attack against Naxalism with a ruthless strategy. We believe that left wing extremism is the biggest challenge for the country’s democratic system. In the last forty years, about 17 thousand people have lost their lives. Ever since the Modi government was formed at the Centre, this problem has been accepted as a challenge.
Shah said, ‘Work was done to take away weapons from those who have them in their hands and to engage those who are not giving them up. Along with this, development of the area affected by left wing extremism has also been our priority. There have been many achievements. In the year 2022, the death rate was the lowest in four decades. Top 14 Naxalite leaders were killed. We worked with two objectives. First, to establish the rule of law in Naxal areas and second, to develop these areas.’
The Union Home Minister further said, ‘Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and to some extent Maharashtra have become free from the Naxal problem. There were 16 thousand incidents from 2004 to 2014 and since 2014 till now there have been about seven thousand incidents. There has been a reduction of about 53 percent.
Shah further said, ‘People have become illiterate due to left wing extremism. The state government and the central government will take initiative to make them literate. We will create SIA on the lines of National Investigation Agency (NIA). The state government will soon announce a new surrender policy.
He appealed to the Naxalites for peace talks and said that the Naxalites should surrender, give up their weapons and we will take care of them. Shah said, ‘I appeal to the Naxalites to give up violence and surrender.’
Apart from the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police level officers of Chhattisgarh and its neighbouring states, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and senior officers of the Central and State Government were also present in the review meeting. Shah said that in the meeting held on Saturday, the progress towards reaching the welfare and development schemes to the people and the works of infrastructure development in the districts affected by Left Wing Extremism were also reviewed.
