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EYE ON INDIA SEPTEMBER 19, 2025 | The Indian Eye 8

India’s Final Push: How the State

is Eradicating Maoist Terror

With major operations, surrenders, and development-led rehabilitation,

India signals that the Maoist insurgency is in its last phase.

OUR BUREAU bearing fruit.
Finally, ideological fatigue has set
New Delhi
in. What once attracted disillusioned
or decades, the red corridors youth as a revolutionary cause now
of central and eastern India appears as a violent and outdated
Fechoed with the gunfire of struggle, disconnected from ground
Maoist insurgents. Villages in Ch- realities. For younger cadres, surren-
hattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Odisha der and rehabilitation offer a more
lived under the shadow of violence, pragmatic future.
while security forces waged a long
and grueling battle against what was CHALLENGES THAT REMAIN
once called the country’s “biggest in- espite optimism, challenges
ternal security threat.” But a string remain. Small pockets of in-
of successful operations in Chhattis- Dsurgency continue in forested
garh, culminating in the elimination areas of Bastar, Kanker, and parts of
of senior Central Committee lead- Jharkhand. Maoists still use IEDs and
er Manoj alias Modem Balkrishna, ambushes, which occasionally inflict
shows that India is entering the final Central Reserve Police Force’s 209 CoBRA unit personnel during an anti-Naxal operation casualties on security personnel. These
stages of eradicating Maoist terror. in the forest area of central India (ANI file incidents remind policymakers that
The encounter in Gariaband
district, where 10 Naxals including while the insurgency is weakened, it is
not yet eliminated.
Balkrishna were neutralised, was for rehabilitation. no longer sustain the insurgency. Human rights groups also cau-
more than a routine operation. It tion that the government must bal-
symbolised the shrinking space for In Bijapur, 30 Maoists recently WHY THE INSURGENCY ance security measures with sensitivity
Maoist leaders who once command-
ed large formations in the forests of surrendered—one of the largest DECLINED to tribal communities, ensuring that
counter-insurgency does not alienate
Bastar. With Balkrishna’s death, the group surrenders in the region’s everal factors explain the sharp locals. If mishandled, heavy-handed
Maoists lost not only a senior strate-
gist but also a symbolic figure of their history. These cadres were not decline of Maoist power. First, operations could risk creating resent-
resilience. only disarmed but also brought Sthe leadership vacuum is widen- ment—the very vacuum Maoists once
ing. With top commanders killed or exploited.
Such operations reflect years of
incremental pressure. The coordi- into rehabilitation programmes captured, the organisation struggles to The next two years are crucial.
nated actions by the CRPF’s Cobra designed to give them livelihoods recruit leaders of equal stature. With 2026 set as the deadline for com-
Second, the tactical advantage of plete eradication, India’s strategy hing-
commandos, Chhattisgarh Police,
and the District Reserve Guard and dignity outside the jungle. Maoists in forested terrain has been es on three pillars: decisive security op-
(DRG) demonstrate a new level of eroded by improved technology and erations, sustained development work,
better training for security forces. and rehabilitation that offers Maoists a
synergy among security agencies. Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Drones, satellite mapping, and new way back into civilian life.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s Minister Vijay Sharma attributed strategies for counter-IED operations The elimination of leaders like
announcement that Naxalism will be this trend to a mix of government have reduced the rebels’ ability to in- Balkrishna is a milestone, but the final
completely eradicated by March 2026 development schemes, the bravery flict casualties. Even as IEDs remain a victory will depend on ensuring that
underscores the Centre’s confidence of security forces, and a sustained challenge, officials confirm that India surrendered cadres do not relapse into
that the insurgency has been reduced rehabilitation policy. The appeal to is sourcing global technologies for de- insurgency and that vulnerable youth
to its weakest point in decades.
Maoists is clear: violence offers di- tection and neutralisation. are absorbed into the social and eco-
minishing returns, while surrender Third, development has crept into nomic mainstream.
FROM FIREPOWER TO opens the door to reintegration into areas once written off as inaccessible. For India, ending Maoist terror

REHABILITATION mainstream society. Roads, mobile connectivity, and wel- is not just about defeating an armed
Inspector General of Police, fare schemes now reach interior vil- movement. It is about restoring confi-
hat makes the current Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, framed lages. This not only weakens Maoist dence in democracy in regions where
phase of counter-Maoist it bluntly—Maoism is “on the verge propaganda but also integrates com- it was once absent, ensuring tribal pop-
Wstrategy different is the of ending.” His appeal to cadres to munities into state structures. The ulations share the benefits of growth,
dual approach: relentless military abandon violence reflects the state’s “hearts and minds” strategy—long and closing a violent chapter in the na-
action combined with political will confidence that ideology alone can seen as the missing link—is finally tion’s internal security history.

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