At least seven jawans have been killed and 13 others have been injured after Naxalites blew up a vehicle of the Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in a landmine attack in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
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.
'From every point of view, they have faced an extremely difficult couple of years, and the setback they have suffered is irreversible.' 'This reality has begun to set in even amongst the top-level cadres. That is why, in recent times, we have witnessed a huge number of senior-level cadres emerging from the jungle and deciding to renounce violence and join the mainstream.'
After recent high-intensity operations in the Bastar region and the neutralisation of several senior Maoist leaders, officials say the insurgency has lost its ability to mount large-scale coordinated attacks.
The Maharashtra Police are drafting a drone-use policy to strengthen security and surveillance in key cities, including Mumbai, as part of preparations against unconventional terror threats, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The Maoists have already blown up as many as 16 telecom towers in different places of these districts, thereby disrupting the mobile telephone services.
He accused Naxalites of using tribal villagers as a shield.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted his commitment to eradicating Maoist terror from India, criticizing the previous Congress regime for allegedly supporting 'urban Naxals' and ignoring the violence they perpetrated. He highlighted the significant reduction in Maoist-affected districts and the surrender of numerous Naxalites as evidence of his government's success in combating the issue.
'Instead of Samaiya Madvi, his mortal remains have reached the new house'
Top Naxalite commander Madvi Hidma, who had masterminded several attacks over the last two decades, was killed in an encounter in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, a breakthrough Chhattisgarh Police described as the 'last nail in the coffin' of the insurgency.
The DD scribe, Dhiraj Kumar said the horrific incident would never fade from his memory.
'Reviewing terms such as war, invasion, acts of foreign enemies or hostilities, which often appear in industry exclusion lists, can help avoid surprises at the time of claim.'
Maoists opened fire on Salwa Judum (anti-Naxal) activists located near camps of the Central Reserve Police Force and police, triggering a gunbattle, and set off an improvised explosive device in Dantewada district on Tuesday. However, there was no immediate report of casualty on either side in the face-off as intermittent exchange of fire continued late into the night, police sources said.
This is the third big success in the past fortnight for security forces pushing relentlessly against the Maoists with the aim of ending the menace by March 2026.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accusing them of "speaking the language of urban naxals" and being "AAP-da" for the youth. He also took a swipe at former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying those who entertain themselves by getting photo sessions done in huts of the poor will find the talk about the poor in Parliament boring. Modi also hailed his government's decisions in the Budget and said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which his government started for the poor, has been stalled by some states, leaving poor people in hardship.
Four leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were killed in a Naxal attack at Tumribandha in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Saturday night.
After an all-party meeting boycotted by the Congress, Chhattishgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday said his government is working on a comprehensive short and medium-term plan to deal with Naxalism and asked the state's main opposition to help the administration in the task.
A police jawan was on Friday killed and another injured after Naxals ambushed a team of security personnel who were deployed on a helipad in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district.
The Maoist attack near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh is the fifth major strike by Naxals in the country this year.
139 Naxalite cadres surrendered in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, marking a significant turning point in the fight against Left Wing Extremism. The surrenders included a top Maoist strategist and were hailed as a sign of the movement's decline.
Three jawans of the Chhattisgarh police were killed and four others injured on Friday in an ambush set up by Naxals in Bastar district, a senior police official said in Raipur. Bastar Superintendent of Police Ratan Lal Dangi told PTI over the phone that the incident took place near Netanar village on Friday morning. The police team, from Darbha station, was heading for the village after receiving a report that Naxals had vandalised a guest house of the forest department.
The post is a crucial post, falling in the border between Maharashtra and Andhra.
Moti Ram Awalam (30) was an active member of "PLGA Battalion No 1", considered the strongest military formation of the outlawed movement, headed by wanted Maoist "commander" Hidma, and was carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, a police official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the record turnout in the first phase of the Bihar assembly polls indicates people's trust in the NDA government. He predicted victory for the NDA, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and lauded the Election Commission for conducting successful elections.
It was significant that the ceremony took place at 24, Akbar Road, the party's former national headquarters, and not at its new office in Kotla Road.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Naxals in Chhattisgarh, in which 22 security personnel were killed, was 'incompetently' executed and 'poorly designed'.
Nagaland Armed Police personnel, who were camping in the same locality, retaliated and the exchange of fire with the ultras continued for over an hour in Injeram, the sources said.
One cop from the Gidham police station, in Dantewada district, was killed and another abducted in the incident.
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.
Ruling out the role of the army in fighting Naxal violence in the state, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday admitted "security lapses" that led to the killing of key Congress leaders last weekend.
The two-week-long search operation in the Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district of Orissa has been completed by the search teams from the Andhra Pradesh police and Indian Navy as all the 38 bodies of Greyhound commandos and police personnel were found.
A student activist and "independent journalist" from Kerala, Rejaz M. Sheeba Sydeek, has been arrested in Nagpur for allegedly "preparing to wage war against the Government of India." The arrest was made after Sydeek allegedly condemned Operation Sindoor, an Indian Armed Forces operation against terror targets in Pakistan, and criticized operations against Naxalites on his Instagram account. Police found a book about professor G N Saibaba, who faced trial for alleged links with Naxalism, and another about Marxism-Leninism in Sydeek's bag. An English letter seized from his possession appeared to criticize the Indian government for anti-Naxal operations and called for "peace talks between the Indian state and the (banned) CPI (Maoist)".
The Karnataka State Reserve Police personnel were staying in a school building.
Jaipal Yadav, who represents Kalwakurthy constituency, was returning after attending a meeting at Madugula village when the attack took place, police said.
Congress workers on Sunday disrupted rail and road servcies during the day-long bandh called by the party in Chhattisgarh to press for the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the wake of deadly Maoist attack.
While it is evident that the INDIA bloc has not shut its doors on Nitish Kumar, those within the NDA are hopeful that the JD-U's support base would benefit them as well
He was a decorated officer as he won combat competitions and participated in all-India police commando duty meets.
Many IEDs explode even when the troops are on foot and their trigger mechanism gets activated just due to the pressure of the feet. These incidents have injured more than 100 personnel over the last two years, the officer said.
Two officials of the Central Reserve Police Force, including a deputy commandant, were killed and 12 security personnel were injured in a landmine blast triggered by Naxals in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday.
An alert has been sounded in the anti-Naxal operations theatre of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand following a "spike" in IED blasts and recoveries, including that of a device rigged with beer bottles and a small antenna for remote control explosion. The uptick in improvised explosive device (IED) recovery and blasts has been noticed as multiple security forces move into core Naxal areas to meet the Union government's deadline of wiping off Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by March 2026.
