Grit, strategy, surrenders: How Naxalism was brought to its knees

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the Narendra Modi government is committed to eradicating Naxalism from the country. He said that the Naxal menace will end by March 31 2026. With just days to go, the promise of ending the menace is set to be fulfilled.

The year 2025 was a brutal one for the Naxal movement and the operations that were carried out set the stage for the eradication of the problem that has plagued the country for long.

An official said that the Home Minister had made it clear that he wants the movement to end at any cost.

While, Home Minister Shah gave the security forces a free hand to deal with the problem, he also ensured that there was proper coordination between the state and central forces, the official also added.

Another very key area of focus by the Union and State Governments was development.

The Centre invested a lot to ensure that the Naxal affected states and zones were amply developed. This resulted in the mindset of the people changing.

The Naxalites who had thrived on local support citing that the governments were being unfair to them, lost this base owing to extensive development, another official pointed out.

In the operations that took place in 2025 as many as 256 Naxalites were killed and 884 were arrested.

However, the important part of this operation is that many Naxalites laid down their arms and chose to get rehabilitated and join the mainstream.

As many as 1,562 Naxalites surrendered and the security agencies recovered 645 weapons and 875 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).

Another official said that the surrenders are the key. This sent out a huge signal that the Naxalites themselves realised that joining the mainstream is a better option rather than battling a lost cause.

This also sends out a message to future generations that such movements are not worth it.

Data would show that 23 jawans laid down their lives to achieve such a feat. Further 46 innocent civilians were killed in 2025 by Naxalites in retaliation.

Speaking about the surrenders, an official said that the ones to lay down their arms were not just foot soldiers. They were top leaders who laid down their arms and this sent a huge message to the cadres who were still on the ground.

Some of the top leaders who surrendered include Madvi Hidma, Baswaraju, Jayaram Vivek, Narsimha Chalam, Gajarala Ravi, Modhem Balkrishna, Sahdev Soren, Raju Kadri Satyanarayana Reddy and Ganesh.

These surrenders made a huge difference as all of them were members of the central committee.

Many of them even said and wrote about the futility of carrying on with the movement and this sent a strong message to the existing cadres and those who were planning on joining the movement.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that, while the movement is dead on the ground, one must keep a close watch on attempts of a revival.

Although hard, attempts would be made, the official added. Security officials are confident that the Naxalite movement would never be revived again.

However, it is the ideology in urban centres that is causing some amount of concern. Attempts will be made to romanticise the movement and spread the ideology.

The battle may not be fought on the ground, but those sympathetic to the movement may infiltrate protests and try and spread their agenda.

Recently a group of people sympathetic to the movement had joined a protest on pollution and tried to speak about the Naxalites who had been killed.

Such incidents are likely to take place and Intelligence agencies warn that they must be stopped immediately or else it could spiral out of control.

--IANS