New Delhi. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the problem of Naxalism in the country will end in the next two-three years. He claimed that except a small area of Chhattisgarh, the entire country has become free from this threat. Shah also said in an interview with ‘PTI-Bhasha’ late Saturday night that there is no presence of Maoists in the so-called Naxal corridor from Pashupatinath to Tirupati.
He said, “Naxalism is ending from the country. Some people used to talk about the Naxal corridor from Pashupatinath to Tirupati. Now Jharkhand has become completely free from Naxalites. Bihar has become completely free. Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have also become completely free. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have also become completely free.” Shah said that Chhattisgarh has not been completely free from Naxalism and Naxalites are still active in some parts of the state because the Congress government was in power in the state for the last five years.
He said that since the BJP government took power in the state five months ago, the work of making Chhattisgarh free from Naxalites has started. He said, “Since our government has been formed (in Chhattisgarh), about 125 Naxalites have been killed, more than 352 have been arrested and about 175 have surrendered. If you count today’s (25 May) figures as well, then about two hundred and seventy five have surrendered. Here I am talking only about the figures of the last five months.” He said, “Within the next 2 years or 3 years, the country will be free from the Naxal problem.”
On April 16, security personnel killed 29 Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. This included some senior Naxal cadres. This was the highest number of Naxalites killed in a single encounter in the history of the state’s fight against left wing extremism. According to data from the Union Home Ministry, incidents of left wing extremism have come down from 14,862 in the decade 2004-14 to 7,128 in 2014-23.
The number of deaths of security forces due to left wing extremism has decreased by 72 percent from 1750 in 2004-14 to 485 during 2014-23 and the number of civilian deaths has decreased by 68 percent from 4285 to 1383 during the said period. The number of violence-prone districts was 96 in the year 2010, which decreased by 53 percent to 45 in 2022. Along with this, the number of police stations reporting violence decreased from 465 in 2010 to 176 in 2022.
In the last five years, more than 5,000 post offices have been set up in 90 districts where Maoists have a presence or where extremists had a presence in the past. Officials said 1,298 bank branches were opened and 1,348 ATMs were made operational in the 30 most affected districts. A total of 4,885 mobile towers were constructed at a cost of Rs 2,690 crore and 9,356 km of roads were built at a cost of Rs 10,718 crore in Naxal-affected areas. Local youth are being given employment by setting up 121 Eklavya residential schools, 43 ITIs and 38 skill development centres in Naxal-affected areas.