Red Fade

Since the regime change, something has been changing in Chhattisgarh. With top Maoist leaders killed, the remaining are insisting on a ceasefire or peace talks. The state must make the most of the situation

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THE killing of seventy-year-old Maoist supremo Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, on May 21 in Abujhmarh, Chhattisgarh, changed everything on the Maoist front in Central India.

From April 21, the state has been targeting Maoists who have taken shelter in Karregutta Hills, situated on the border of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, with the intention of eliminating them. The security forces waged the “biggest battle ever”—named Operation Black Forest—and around 10-20,000 security personnel surrounded Karregutta Hills. The state claimed that 350-500 Maoists, including big leaders like the head of Battalion 1, Hidma, were hiding there. While security forces managed to kill 31, not one could be captured alive. The operation ran for three weeks but eventually had to be called off in the wake of Operation Sindoor.

The security forces, however, managed to dismantle the Karregutta Hill base of the Maoists and disintegrate Battalion 1—the most potent Maoist force—into smaller groups. Although this will lead to fewer large-scale attacks by Maoists, I felt it will now be all the more difficult to locate these disintegrated groups and hence it will be impossible to meet the deadline of March 31, 2026 set by Home Minister Amit Shah. Also, the upcoming monsoon season will make the continuation of the operation in the dense forest incredibly difficult. But the killing of Nambala Keshav Rao, changed everything. It looks like along with local support, the state is now also privy to better tech intelligence. It has made all the difference in the past few years when the centre of gravity has definitely shifted towards the state.