Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Northeast's first Emergency Landing Facility in Assam, boosting regional defense and disaster response capabilities.
The Congress's performance in the Lok Sabha elections showed that it may be down but not out, and Modi is determined to ensure that in the next round in 2029, it is consigned to irrelevance, points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
In a major blow to the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist in Andhra Pradesh, the organsation's state secretary Sambasivudu on Sunday surrendered before a senior police official. Confirming his surrender, Home Minister K Jana Reddy said that Sambasivudu will be produced before the media on Monday. He refused to share any more details. Sambasivudu took over as the chief of the underground organisation in 2006.
Communist Party of India-Maoist Central Committee member and in-charge of Haryana, Lanka Venkata Papi Reddy alias Ranganna alias Latchanna, surrendered before Andhra Pradesh Home Minister K Jana Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday. Speaking to newsmen, Papi Reddy, 47, said that he decided to surrender and join the 'mainstream of public life' due to his failing health.
While the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay on the operation of the bail order so as to appeal before the Supreme Court, the HC refused the request, stating that Babu has been in jail for over five years.
Arrested Maoist-backed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato has been charged with sedition and booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for raising funds for a terrorist outfit and attempting to murder police personnel.
Minutes after landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Prachanda was held up at the immigration counter for a few explanations. It took him half an hour before being allowed to proceed.
A prominent Naxal leader on Thursday rejected Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's call to Maoists to abjure violence and take the path of democracy, saying there was no question of giving up arms.Defending their armed struggle, Kisenji told PTI over the phone from an undisclosed location, "There will be arms in the hands of the people's liberation army as long as the state uses arms to throttle the voice of the people."He said, "The state should stop killing its own people."
The Ministry of Home Affairs reports a significant reduction in the number of districts most affected by Naxalism, highlighting the government's efforts to combat Left Wing Extremism.
A massive anti-Naxal operation involving around 10,000 security personnel along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border entered its fifth day on Friday, with the Maoists reportedly issuing a statement calling for a halt to the exercise and initiating "peace talks." The statement, circulating on social media, claims that the government is resorting to repression and violence despite the possibility of resolving the issue through dialogue. The operation, considered one of the largest counter-insurgency actions in the Bastar region, involves personnel from various units including the Chhattisgarh police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and its elite CoBRA unit. The operation, launched on Monday in the densely forested hills of Karregutta and Durgamgutta along the inter-state border, is aimed at targeting PLGA battalion No. 1, the strongest military formation of the Maoists.
Some towns of Uttar Pradesh are apparently on the target of a Maoist outfit. This was disclosed in a letter received by the editorial department of a well-known Hindi daily in Lucknow on Friday evening. It bears the signature of dreaded Maoist Munna Vishwakarma, who carries a reward of 2 lakh.
During Operation Kagar, 350 Naxalites have been killed so far, including some of the movement's top leaders.
In a fresh offensive against Naxals, security forces killed at least 30 members of the banned CPI-Maoists in two separate encounters in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Thursday, officials said.
A man killed during a recent anti-Naxal operation in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district was a tribal and not a Maoist, an official said on Saturday. The opposition Congress claimed he was innocent and demanded a high-level probe and a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Rejecting the demands for withdrawal of security forces and release of prisoners by Maoist-backed tribal agitators, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on Tuesday night said the police have been asked to move to the detained Rajdhani Express to rescue the passengers."We can't just accept such demands like withdrawal of security forces and release of some prisoners," the chief minister told a press conference in Kolkata.
Elusive Maoist top gun Kishenji was on Thursday killed in an encounter with joint forces at Burisole forest in West Midnapore district, a day after he narrowly escaped from there.The body of 58-year-old Molajula Koteswar Rao, better known as Kishenji, was found and identified after the Jungle Mahal encounter, a top counter-insurgency force official said.
It noted that 68-year-old Ghandy was in custody for almost six years and six months during the pendency of case.
Ghandy, 66 told reporters after the acquittal that he had disassociated himself from the banned outfit of Communist Party of India-Maoist.
Rourkela and nearby areas in Odisha's Sundargarh district are abuzz with reports about the killing of Anmol, area commander of Chotanagpur Committee Maoists, but a senior police officer said there was no evidence of that so far.
Eight police personnel and a civilian driver were killed in a Naxal blast in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Monday. The blast, which was carried out using a 60-70 kg improvised explosive device (IED), occurred near Ambeli village under Kutru police station area. The victims were travelling in an SUV when the blast occurred. The incident marks the biggest attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh in two years. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and other state leaders paid homage to the deceased at a wreath-laying ceremony in Dantewada.
Elusive tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, spearheading an agitation since November last year against alleged police atrocities at Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, was arrested on Saturday.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
The sweeping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar Assembly elections has caused ripples across the country, but perhaps more pronounced in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due in 2027.
Deva recently replaced Hidma as commander of the Maoists' battalion no. 1, the IG added.
The court said that the 65-year-old Ghandy, who is in custody in the case since September 2009, was suffering from various ailments and his condition has 'visibly deteriorated' during the period of trial.
A 10-year-old boy was killed when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by CPI-Maoists in Jharkhand's West Singbhum district exploded, a senior police officer said on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his Bihar assembly poll campaign, asserting that the NDA under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will break all previous electoral records. He criticized the INDIA bloc and highlighted the NDA's cohesiveness and development efforts in Bihar.
One of the top most leaders of CPI-Maoist in the country Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad was alive and safe, a senior Maoist leader has said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested a top Maoist leader as it carried out raids at 62 locations across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the Communist Party of India-Maoist conspiracy case, an official said.
Suspected Maoists killed a local Communist Party of India-Maoist leader after raiding his house at Barabazar, about 50 km from Purulia, early on Thursday morning and fled towards the Jharkhand border, a senior police official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the Congress had been unwilling to accept Tejashwi Yadav as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) chief ministerial candidate and relented only after the Rashtriya Janata Dal pointed a 'katta', an unlicensed country-made gun, at its head.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a sharp attack on country's first premier Jawaharlal Nehru, claiming he prevented Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from fully integrating Kashmir into the Indian Union.
The body of Kaka Arjun (52) was found on Wednesday evening on Kongupalli-Ilmidi road in Bijapur, located more than 400 km from state capital Raipur, they said.
The incident comes amid accusations by the opposition BJP of "targeted killings" of its workers in the run up to the polls.
The Maharashtra legislative assembly passed the 'Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill' aimed at preventing unlawful activities of Left Wing Extremist organizations, focusing on urban Naxalism and passive militancy.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday claimed to have made a major breakthrough in its anti-Maoist tirade after the arrest of 10 alleged Naxals from different parts of the state over the last 24 hours.
'Many of them are mutilated beyond recognition. Every day an encounter takes place.' 'Bastar has been burnt to ash.'
Top Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde was among the 26 Maoists killed in an encounter with police in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, a senior police official said on Sunday.
A profile of veteran Nepali politician K P Sharma Oli, detailing his rise to power, his various stints as prime minister, and his impact on Nepal's political landscape.
