New Delhi, October 18: India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that the Abujhmad and North Bastar regions of Chhattisgarh have been declared free of Maoist insurgents, marking what he described as a decisive phase in the decades-long fight against left-wing extremism in central India.
Writing on social media platform X, Shah said that the government’s intensified operations had led to the surrender of 258 Maoist cadres in the past two days across Chhattisgarh and neighbouring Maharashtra. Among them was Mallojula Venugopal Rao, also known as Sonu, a senior Polit Bureau member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), who surrendered in Gadchiroli on October 14.
Of those who laid down arms, 170 were from Chhattisgarh. A formal surrender ceremony is scheduled in Jagdalpur on Friday, where Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai is expected to participate, Shah added.
The minister said that the government’s actions were part of a broader effort to eradicate Naxalism by March 31, 2026. “These numbers mirror our fierce resolve to decimate Naxalism before the 31st of March 2026,” Shah wrote, adding that those willing to surrender would be welcomed, while those continuing violence “will meet the wrath of our forces.”
Abujhmad, a vast and largely unsurveyed forest region spread across Narayanpur, Bijapur, Dantewada and Kanker districts of Chhattisgarh and parts of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, has long been a key Maoist stronghold and refuge.
According to data shared by Shah, since January 2024—after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government in Chhattisgarh—2,100 Naxalites have surrendered, 1,785 have been arrested, and 477 have been killed in security operations. The announcement signals a major shift in the government’s counterinsurgency campaign in central India, which has seen decades of armed conflict between Maoist rebels and Indian security forces.