End of road for Naxals? Security forces move deep into Chhattisgarh forests

In December, Amit Shah visited Bastar and reiterated that Naxalism will be eliminated from the state by March 2026.

Raipur: As many as 219 Naxalites were killed by security forces in Chhattisgarh in 2024 as the state government and security forces showed a firm resolve to implement Union Home Minister Amit Shah's announcement of eradicating Left Wing Extremism by March 2026.

The year began with a setback for security forces after three CRPF personnel, including two commandos from the elite CoBRA unit, were killed and 15 injured in a Naxal attack along the Sukma-Bijapur border on January 30.

However, security forces responded over the next few months with devastating effect, undertaking operations deep inside Abujhmad, the stronghold of the ultras, and also succeeding in setting up a camp in February in Sukma district’s Puvarti, the native village of dreaded Naxalite leader Hidma.

On October 4, security forces got their biggest victory in the four-decade-long fight against LWE in the state when 31 ultras were gunned down in an encounter along the border of Dantewada and Narayanpur districts. On April 16, a total of 29 Naxalites were eliminated in Chhotebethiya area of Kanker district.

During the year, security forces killed 219 Naxalites, including 217 in Bastar region, which comprises Bastar, Dantewada, Kanker, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Sukma districts.

Till December 5, a total of 837 Naxalites were arrested and 802 laid down their arms. During the year, 18 security personnel lost their lives in the fight against Naxalism, while the number of civilians killed in Maoist violence stood at 65.

In December, Shah visited Bastar and reiterated that Naxalism will be eliminated from the state by March 2026.

The all-out fight against Naxalites under the Vishnu Deo Sai government has seen technology-driven interventions like aerial surveillance and tracking mechanisms as well as setting up of camps in inaccessible areas and facilitating development projects.

Though state police achieved significant success against Naxalites this year, it also faced allegations of fake encounters in Kanker, Narayanpur and Bijapur districts.

The BJP, which returned to power in December last year after a five-year hiatus, maintained its stranglehold on the state's politics by winning 10 out of 11 Lok Sabha seats and a bypoll later in November. The campaign for the general elections saw rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The year also saw the Sai government making concerted efforts to unearth "scams" under the previous Congress dispensation of Bhupesh Baghel, which led to the opposition hurling allegations of misuse of Central probe agencies like ED and CBI as well as that of a witch hunt.

It also accused the Sai government of not being able to maintain law and order.

The attacks on the BJP got sharper after a protest by the Satnami community on June 10 against the alleged ransacking of a sacred 'victory pillar' led to large scale arson at the offices of the collector and superintendent of police in Balodabazar.

Around 150 people, including Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, members of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and Bhim Regiment, were arrested in connection with the arson.

The killing of a ‘gau sevak’ (cow shelter worker) by five men belonging to the Muslim community in Kabirdham district in January, being probed by the NIA now, and the murder of the wife and 11-year-old daughter of a policemen by five persons in Surajpur in October put the Sai rgime on the backfoot.

In 2024, Chhattisgarh witnessed multiple raids by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau and Economic Offence Wing on the premises of bureaucrats, businessmen and some Congress leaders in connection with alleged scams pertaining to illegal coal levy, liquor and district mineral foundation.

The ED arrested former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, who was an influential bureaucrat during the previous Congress government, in April in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam.

The ACB/EOW also lodged an FIR in March against Baghel in the Mahadev online betting app scam.

The EOW in February registered a case related to alleged irregularities in the state Public Service Commission recruitment examination during the previous Congress regime.

The case was handed over to CBI, which, in November, arrested former chairman of Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission Taman Singh Sonwani and Shravan Kumar Goyal, a businessman.

The Sai government launched the 'Krishak Unnati Yojana' and 'Mahtari Vandan Yojna' for farmers and women, respectively, during the year.

While the state saw large scale protests by villagers against the proposed Parsa coal mine in Hasdeo Aranya area, it also got a new tiger reserve after Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary were notified for the purpose.

Twelve passengers were killed and 14 injured after a bus overturned and rolled over into a ditch in the Kumhari area of Durg district in April.