Hello defence lovers! Recently, Home Minister Amit Shah announced that India is ‘almost Naxal-free’ following the 31ˢᵗ March 2026 deadline for eradicating Naxals from India. In this article, we are going to evaluate the status of Naxal Mukt Bharat and understand how it was made possible.
Background
Naxalism started way back in 1967 in a small village of Naxalbari near Siliguri in West Bengal. The movement was initially a protest by peasants against the wealthy landlords. Soon, the protests turned violent, and the brutal police crackdown made things worse. Three prominent figures, Charu Majumdar, Kame Sanyal, and Jangal Santhal, shaped the uprising into a movement which, according to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, became India’s greatest internal security challenge.
Ideology
To understand the Naxalism movement, we need to understand the ideology first. Naxalism is often termed as left-wing extremism. The term left-wing ideology is rooted in the French Revolution, where those who supported revolution and liberal principles sat on King Louis XVI’s left-hand side, and those who supported monarchy and its orthodox culture sat on the King’s right-hand side. Slowly, the left-wing ideology got associated with communism.
Communism has three pillars – Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism. Marxism is the earliest form, which advocates a class struggle between the industrial working class and capitalist owners. It also mentions that all the assets in the economy must be collectively owned by the working class, and there should not be any individual private ownership. Leninism takes Marxism one step ahead, where it advocates the establishment of a centralised Vanguard party which would control all the activities of the communist society to ensure proper functioning. Maoism is a further evolution which takes the class struggle to agrarian societies, to peasants and farmers. Additionally, it also focuses on guerrilla warfare through a “protracted people’s war”.
Naxalism is greatly inspired by Mao’s version of communism, which is the most violent form of communism, aiming to overthrow the current democratically elected regime through an armed people’s war.
Root causes
Now, as we have understood the ideology, let us understand how the movement got momentum. Land reforms are one of the most significant reasons behind the Naxal movement. In West Bengal, where the movement was initiated, societies were feudal in nature, where all the agricultural resources were controlled by the wealthy landlords called “Zamindars”. These Zamindars often exploited the labourers through unpaid forced labour called “began”, which caused resentment. The second major reason was tribal discontent. Tribals are greatly dependent upon the forest and its produce for their survival. The introduction of wildlife protection alienated the tribals from their forest. The third main reason was mass displacement due to various mining activities and the development of hydroelectricity projects. All these reasons, mixed with a lack of development, employment, and good governance, fueled the Naxal movement.
Naxal Mukt Bharat – the feat
As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, the number of districts which were severely affected by left-wing extremism was close to 126 in 2014, which dropped to just 11 in 2025 end. As of March 31, 2026, the number of LWE-affected districts left in India is only 2. As per the new definition of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh and West Singbhum district of Jharkhand are the only LWE-affected districts. Apart from these two, the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh has been categorised as “district of concern”. Lastly, there are 35 districts classified as “legacy and thrust districts”, where Naxalism has been removed, but still there is a risk of resurgence.
Key Drivers of Naxal Mukt Bharat
Initially, Naxalism was perceived as only a law and order problem by the Union government. However, when it greatly threatened the peace and stability of the central eastern part of the country, the government followed a strategic shift and perceived it as an internal security problem on par with the North East insurgency and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the initial years, the government failed to address the root causes and responded only with military brute force. In 2004, it seemed that the movement was almost over; however, it again came back with the merger of the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) and People’s War Group (PWG) to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This time, it was stronger than before.
Post 2014, the NDA government at the centre followed a different strategy. It followed the SAMADHAN doctrine, which not only aggressively supported the anti-Naxal operations but also fairly addressed the root causes.
SAMADHAN Doctrine
- S- Smart Leadership focuses on capable, decisive, and well-coordinated leadership at all levels—central, state, and district—to ensure better planning, accountability, and real-time decision-making in anti-Naxal operations.
- A – Aggressive Strategy involves a shift from a defensive approach to proactive operations, where security forces conduct intelligence-based, targeted strikes to dominate Naxal-affected areas rather than merely reacting to attacks.
- M – Motivation and Training emphasizes better training, morale, and welfare of security forces, including specialized training in jungle warfare, survival skills, and counter-insurgency tactics.
- A – Actionable Intelligence relies on precise, real-time intelligence inputs, with strengthened intelligence agencies and local informant networks enabling accurate and successful operations.
- D – Dashboard-Based KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) introduce data-driven monitoring, where progress of operations, development work, and security metrics are tracked to ensure accountability and timely interventions.
- H – Harnessing Technology involves the use of modern tools such as drones, satellite imagery, GPS tracking, thermal imaging, and advanced communication systems to enhance surveillance and operational efficiency.
- A – Action Plan for Each Theatre recognizes regional variations and ensures that tailored strategies are designed for different Naxal-affected states and districts instead of adopting a uniform approach.
- N – No Access to Financing focuses on choking the financial backbone of Naxal groups by cracking down on extortion networks, illegal mining revenues, and other funding channels.
Under this doctrine, the government invested heavily in the modernisation of the Central Armed Police Forces, especially the CRPF. It also boosted the intelligence network by strengthening the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Various advanced technologies like drone-based surveillance, satellite-based surveillance, thermal imagery, etc., were used to locate and map the Naxal movements. Along with these efforts, a massive crackdown was launched on the financial operations of the Naxals, aimed at the economic strangulation of the movement.
Specially trained units were raised who had dedicated expertise in jungle warfare. CRPF’s Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or CoBRA, took the flagship role. Various state police also raised their dedicated commando units like Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand Jaguars, or Bastaria Battalion.
Also Read, CoBRA Commandos in Red Corridor
The top leadership of the Naxal movement was strategically targeted. These included the renowned Operation Black Forest Two, in which top Maoist commander Basavraju, along with 36 other Naxals, were neutralised. On November 18, 2025, the CRPF got a historic victory when Madvi Hidma, the mastermind of the 2017 Sukma Ambush, was gunned down. Within months, the top leadership, including the General Secretary along with the Polit Bureau of CPI (Maoist), was almost wiped out. Those who remained chose to surrender, seeing the inevitable death.
Thus, the crackdown resulted in mass surrenders of Naxals, accelerated by financial incentives and rehabilitation programs upon surrender. Due to this, the existing cadre strength of Naxals dropped rapidly, and new recruitment became almost impossible.
The government also addressed the core issues which acted as push factors for Naxal cadre recruitment. The government introduced the Forest Rights Act, which ensured tribal access to the forest. A lot of developmental projects were flagged off. These included road network expansion along with mobile tower construction to bring 4G network coverage. As technology penetrated the red corridor, it became very difficult for the Naxals to propagate their propaganda among the youth, as the internet exposed the reality of mainland India, which was far more appealing compared to the Naxalist utopia.
The government also expanded the banking infrastructure in the red corridor, which enabled it to perform direct beneficiary transfer through various welfare schemes. It launched the Aspirational District Program, which covered many districts from the red corridor. Multiple Eklavya Model Schools, along with Industrial Training Institutes, were opened to boost the education infrastructure in the red corridor. Through the PESA Act, the Panchayat model was extended to these areas to promote inclusive grassroots-level democracy.
Conclusion
The 70-year-old menace of Naxalism has been finally ended. The shadow of terror has been lifted. Inclusive development, along with aggressive counter-insurgency operations, is a key driver. However, following Mao’s principle of protracted people’s war, which advocates getting underground in unfavourable conditions, there is always a risk of resurgence, as we have seen in 2004. The guns may have been silenced, but the ideology can still live on. Thus, it becomes crucial to have sustained development in the former red corridor to eradicate the ideology of Naxalism and to have a true Naxal Mukt Bharat.
A sincere homage to all the fallen bravehearts who have sacrificed their lives to achieve this dream of Naxal Mukt Bharat. The nation will always be indebted to their sacrifice.
