'Lay down your arms, not a single bullet will be fired': Amit Shah rejects ceasefire offer from Naxals

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday rejected the ceasefire offer given by Maoists, saying if the extremists want to surrender and lay down arms, they are most welcome to do so and security forces would not fire a single bullet on them.

“Recently, to spread confusion, a letter was written stating that what has happened so far has been a mistake, that a ceasefire should be declared, and that we (Naxals) want to surrender. I want to say there will be no ceasefire. If you want to surrender, there is no need for a ceasefire. Lay down your arms, not a single bullet will be fired,” Shah said.

He said if the Naxals want to surrender, a red carpet welcome awaits them with a "lucrative" rehabilitation policy.

Addressing the valedictory session of a seminar on 'Naxal Mukt Bharat', Shah also hit out at Left parties for extending ideological support to Left Wing Extremism and dismissed their arguments that lack of development led to the Maoist violence. He said it was due to the "red terror" that development could not reach many parts of the country for several decades.

"I want to tell you that there will be no ceasefire. If you want to surrender, lay down arms and not a single bullet will be fired. A red carpet welcome is waiting for you if you surrender," he said.

Shah said this in response to the offer of a ceasefire given by the CPI (Maoists) sometime back following the intensified operations carried out by security forces, including “Operation Black Forest” along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, in which several top Naxals were eliminated.

The minister said there are many people who believe that merely stopping the killings by Naxals is enough to eradicate Naxalism from India.

However, he said, this is not true as Naxalism developed in India because its ideology was nurtured by people within the society.

"Why did the Naxal problem arise, grow and develop in the country? Who provided them with ideological support? Until Indian society understands this, the idea of Naxalism and the people in society who provided ideological support, legal support, and financial support, the fight against Naxalism will not end," he said, adding, "We must identify and understand those who continue to nurture the Naxal ideology".

Shah asserted that the country will be free of Naxalism by March 31, 2026.