Maoist insurgency ends in Chhattisgarh after four decades, Bastar region declared free from Naxalism

Raipur. After more than four decades, the Maoist armed movement has come to an end in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The area was declared free from Left Wing Extremism (LWE) on Tuesday as per the deadline set by the Central Government.

In fact, in the 1980s, due to increasing police pressure in neighboring Andhra Pradesh, Maoists had reached the forests of Dandakaranya, especially Bastar, where they tried to develop it as their base. What began as a small ideological movement gradually transformed into an armed insurgency, but its influence has steadily declined over the past decade.

According to experts, the history of Naxalism in Bastar can be divided into three phases – entry and expansion in the 1980s, the peak of violence after the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2004 till 2014, and a period of steady decline thereafter. Bastar Range Inspector General of Police (IG) Sundarraj Pattalingam said that in the initial phase, the Maoists took advantage of geographical inaccessibility, weak administrative reach and socio-economic problems to establish their network in the forests.

He said that in the last decade, the Maoist apparatus has been significantly weakened by focused security operations, strong intelligence network, expansion of security camps, better connectivity and effective implementation of surrender and rehabilitation policies. According to security analyst Dr. Girishkant Pandey, the Naxal movement in Bastar began in 1980, when Kondapalli Sitaramaiah founded the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People’s War Group.

Although Naxalism began with the Naxalbari rebellion in West Bengal in 1967, it spread rapidly in Bastar in the 1980s. In the initial years, youth were recruited through student organizations and sent to the forests. The first attack was recorded in 1981 at Golapalli in Sukma district, in which a policeman was killed. After this, in the 1990s the organization expanded to many states and in 1993 Muppala Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathy took over the leadership. The movement became stronger with the formation of CPI (Maoist) in 2004.

The movement then reached its peak between 2004 and 2014, with several major attacks on security forces and infrastructure. During this period, anti-local movements like Salwa Judum also emerged, although this also increased the problems of violence and displacement. Naxalism started declining since 2014 due to joint efforts of security operations and development work.

In recent years the organization has further weakened with the killing, surrender or arrest of top Maoist leaders. According to official figures, 500 Maoists were killed between 2024 and 2026, which is 31 percent of the total 1,600 Maoists killed between 2001 and 2023.

329 security camps were established in Bastar from 2001 to 2023, while 103 new camps were added from 2024 onwards. Pattalingam said Bastar is now almost completely Naxal free and the government’s focus is now on development, increasing administrative reach and rehabilitation of surrendered militants.