85% of Chhattisgarh Naxals killed in 10 years: Amit Shah | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: In the past 10 years, 85% of Left-wing extremists’ strength in Chhattisgarh and 14 top CPI (Maoist) leaders across the country have been eliminated, home minister Amit Shah said on Monday, enlisting the support of Naxal-hit states for a final blow to end Left-wing extremism (LWE) by March 2026 and enable locals to taste the fruits of development blocked by ultras.
Shah’s statement, made at a review meeting on LWE chaired by him here, came days after 31 Naxalites were eliminated by counter-Naxal forces in a two-day operation in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad area. With this, the total number of Maoists killed so far this year has climbed to 237. Besides, 812 Naxalites had been arrested and 723 surrendered, he said.
Addressing CMs of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana; deputy CM of Bihar, home minister of Andhra Pradesh, Union ministers, deputy NSA, chief secretaries and DGPs of the states concerned, and central paramilitary heads,
Shah said Naxalites have not only been violating human rights but were also the biggest obstacles to development in remote areas, denying locals, including 8 crore tribals, benefits like education, healthcare, connectivity, and financial inclusion. “With a zero-tolerance approach towards LWE and 100% implementation of govt schemes, we want to fully develop LWE-affected areas,” he said.
Shah said that apart from pushing central flagship schemes, the focus of the Modi govt would be on three Cs – road connectivity, telecom connectivity and financial connectivity (inclusion).
Shah said govt’s multi-pronged strategy, focusing on addressing the security vacuum and pushing development as this vacuum is filled, with the affected states on board, has seen violent LWE incidents dipping 53% between 2014 and 2024 as compared to 2004 and 2014. Death of civilians and security forces too declined by 70%, and the total districts reporting LWE violence fell by 57%.
He said the reimbursement to affected states under Centre’s security-related expenditure scheme had gone up three times to Rs 3,006 crore during 2014-24, as compared to 2004-14. Under the special central assistance scheme, Rs 3,590 crore was spent in the last 10 years.