As the March 31, 2026 deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah for eradicating Left Wing Extremism arrives, security forces in Chhattisgarh have killed 531 Maoists over two years and dismantled the top bodies of CPI (Maoist). Officials state that Bastar is approaching Naxal-free status.
In 2024, Union Home Minister Amit Shah set March 31, 2026, as the deadline to eradicate Left Wing Extremism from India. Since then, intense operations in Chhattisgarh have resulted in 531 Maoists killed, with the banned CPI (Maoist)'s Politburo and Central Committee losing 24 members through deaths or surrenders.
A major blow came on May 21, 2025, when CPI (Maoist) General Secretary Nambala Kesava Rao, alias Basavaraju, was killed along with 26 others in the Abujhmad region. In November 2025, Central Committee member Madvi Hidma, linked to 260 security personnel and 81 civilian deaths, was eliminated. Politburo member Thippiri Tirupathi, alias Devuji, surrendered in February 2026.
Security forces established 103 new police camps covering 8,000 square kilometres in Narayanpur, Bijapur, and Sukma districts of Bastar. Between 2024 and 2026, 500 Maoists were killed in Bastar, alongside 42 security personnel and 119 civilians.
Chhattisgarh Additional Director General (Naxal Operations) Vivekanand Sinha told The Indian Express, "Their entire political structure has been dismantled, and their military structure has been destroyed. Only a few cadres now move in civil clothes and are not much of a threat." Bastar Range Inspector General Sundarraj P stated that Bastar approaches a near Naxal-free stage, fully achieved when Maoists lose their capacity for violence.
