Another blow to red terror

The killing of dreaded Maoist commander Madvi Hidma in an encounter with security forces in Andhra Pradesh has dealt a body blow to the already tottering Left Wing Extremist (LWE) movement in India.

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Hidma, the elusive CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member, was said to have been behind 26 of the deadliest Naxal attacks, including the Dantewada massacre in 2010 that killed 76 CRPF jawans and the 2013 Darbha Valley attack when a huge chunk of the Congress leadership in Chhattisgarh was wiped out. He was said to have been the youngest and only tribal from Bastar in the CC. With Hidma’s neutralisation, Union Home Minister Amit Shah's goal of eliminating LWE in India by March 31, 2026, appears to be a distinct possibility. In this context, Shah had set a November 30, 2025, deadline to end Hidma’s reign of terror, and the security forces achieved it 12 days in advance, giving rise to doubts that the killing was part of a staged encounter. A day later, another sev