India near end of LWE, says PM in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: The number of Maoist-affected districts in India has fallen to three from 125 in the last 11 years and the day is not far when the whole of Chhattisgarh and the country will be freed from Left Wing Extremism (LWE), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.

- Prawesh Lama and Ritesh Mishra

Speaking at the Chhattisgarh Rajat Mahotsav in Nava Raipur, marking the 25th anniversary of the state's formation, Modi hailed Chhattisgarh's journey of progress, saying that the seed sown 25 years ago had now grown into a "vat vriksh" (banyan tree) of development.

"For 50 years, the people here suffered unbearable pain because of Maoism. Those who show off the Constitution and shed crocodile tears in the name of social justice have committed injustice to you for their vested interests," he said.

"I guarantee that the day is not far when every corner of Chhattisgarh and India will be completely free from Maoist terror," he asserted.

The government has vowed to uproot Maoism before March 31, 2026 and at least 270 Maoists have been shot dead across the country in encounters this year.

Currently only three places Sukma, Bijapur and Narayanpur -all in Chhattisgarh's Bastar zone -- are in the list of the districts most affected by Maoist violence.

"Maoist ideology deprived tribal regions of basic facilities.

For years, tribal villages lacked roads, schools and hospitals. The existing ones were blown up with bombs. Doctors and teachers were killed. Those who ruled the country for decades abandoned you while they enjoyed life in their air-conditioned offices," Modi added.

Modi cited examples of three villages - Bijapur's Chilkapalli village, where electricity has reached for the first time in seven decades; Rekawaya in Abhujmaad(Narayanpur) where the first school after Independence is being built, and Sukma's Puvarti village(a Maoist hotbed), which is now witnessing a wave of development. "The red flag has been replaced by the national tricolour," he said.