New Delhi: There has been a 39 per cent reduction in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence in India between 2018 and 2022, according to a report released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Wednesday.
The statement also said that the number of Indian districts reporting Maoist violence decreased by 24 per cent in 2022. There has also been a 26 per cent reduction in deaths of security personnel and 44 per cent drop in civilian casualties due to Naxal violence in the same period.
“Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah congratulated the CRPF and the State Security Forces for this decisive success under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and said that the Ministry of Home Affairs will continue the Zero Tolerance Policy against Left Wing Extremism and Terrorism and this fight will be further intensified,” the statement said.
The MHA also said that it was because of PM Modi’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ that the armed forces could, for the first time, oust Maoists from their “strongholds” in places like ‘Budhapahad’, situated on the border of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and parts of Bihar’s Chakrabandha and Bhimbandh.
“Permanent security forces camps have been set up. All these areas were strongholds of top Maoists and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition, foreign grenades, aero bombs and IEDs were recovered by the security forces at these places,” the MHA statement added.
The home ministry’s statement also mentioned “unprecedented success” in 2022 during Operation Octopus, Operation Double Bull and Operation Chakrabandha to destroy Naxal boroughs in various places.
“Seven Maoists were killed and 436 arrested/surrendered in Chhattisgarh, four Maoists killed in Jharkhand and 120 arrested/surrendered. Thirty six Maoists were arrested/surrendered in Bihar. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, three Maoists have been killed by security forces. This success becomes even more important because many of these Maoists killed had bounties of lakhs and crores of rupees on their heads like Mithilesh Mahto had a reward of Rs. 1 crore,” the statement further read.