Abujhmad, North Bastar declared Naxal-free: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday wrote on social media platform X that Abujhmad and North Bastar regions of Chhattisgarh had been declared free from ”Naxalism” and that the fight against Maoism was in a decisive phase in South Bastar.

Abujhmad forests, a large unsurveyed forested tract, bigger than the State of Goa, spread across Narayanpur, Bijapur, Dantewada and Kanker districts of Chhattisgarh and the bordering area of Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), and has long been considered a safe hideout for Maoists.

In another post on the same platform, the Union Home Minister said that “258 battle-hardened left-wing extremists had abjured violence in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra over the last two days”. These included the high-profile surrender of Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu, a Polit Bureau member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), in neighbouring Gadhchiroli on October 14.

Of these, 170 have surrendered in Chhattisgarh over the past two days and a formal ceremony, which Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai is scheduled to attend, will be held in Jagdalpur on Friday.

Since January 2024, after the BJP government was formed in Chhattisgarh, “2100 Naxalites have surrendered, 1785 have been arrested, and 477 have been eliminated”, Mr. Shah’s post further noted. He wrote that the government welcomed those who wanted to surrender and that “those who continue to wield the gun will meet the wrath of our forces”. “These numbers mirror our fierce resolve to decimate Naxalism before the 31st of March 2026,” the post further read.