Three Naxals, who surrendered before the security forces recently, said that they want to go back to their families. They have said that their family members were worried due to constant operations of security forces and added they now want to go back to lead normal lives.
Chhatisgarh: 3 naxals who had surrendered before security forces in Bastar, say, ‘our family members wanted us to return to them, they feared for our life due to constant operations carried out by security forces. We want to lead a normal life now & take care of our families.’ pic.twitter.com/GyjpkY4NTC
— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2018
Coming down hard on Left-wing terrorists has been one of the major achievements of the BJP government. The government has been following a multi-pronged approach to curb left-wing terrorism. Extensive and targeted action on Naxals by security agencies is also combined with wide-spread infrastructure development and providing access to local tribal populations to education and financial development and this has been showing great results in Naxal infested areas.
Locals of Naxal affected village in Bastar’s Darbha say they want development & want to be part of the mainstream. Youths say, ‘we want schools, roads & medical facilities in our village & also appeal to people from our village who have joined Naxals to come back.’ #Chhattisgarh pic.twitter.com/U3e1IcfsGw
— ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018
Hundreds of Naxals have surrendered in the past months. That includes both low-rung ground-level operatives to the high cadre terrorists. At the same time, there has been a constant onslaught of intense combing operations and encounters in the Naxal-inflicted areas of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
In April, in one of the most successful operations, security forces had eliminated 35 terrorists. In May, 44 districts were removed from the list of Left-wing terrorism affected districts and Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced that Chhattisgarh will also get its own specialised task force ‘Black Panthers‘ in the lines of the ‘Greyhounds’ of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The government has also been taking decisive steps to curb fundings received by Left-wing terrorists. The NIA has been investigating the inter-state modules through funding and money trails. In May, it was announced that a multidisciplinary agency has been set up by the Home Ministry for tracing and choking the funding channels of Naxals and Maoists. The multidisciplinary agency consists of officials from the IB, ED, NIA and CBI.
Road constructions in the deep Naxal infested areas have been a major cause of worry for the Naxals as it facilitates transport and access to employment, healthcare and education. All major attacks by Maoists almost always target road construction projects and bridges that help the locals to a better lifestyle and thus dissuades them from joining Naxal activities. The Modi government has allocated a massive 11,000 crores for 5,412 km of roads, including 126 bridges in Naxal affected districts under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.
Electrification and mobile network connectivity in the red corridors have been the other developmental push. Access to technology and electricity not only has helped to bring out major success in providing healthcare and educational benefits, it has helped the locals to take advantage to government schemes to get social and economic advancements that have been kept away from them for decades after independence.
With development being brought to their doorsteps, the locals in Naxal infested areas not only are shunning the left-wing terrorists, they are increasingly being inclined towards education and employment. While the security forces eliminating Maoists in droves and more and more youth being dissuaded from joining their ranks, Left-wing terrorism seems to be taking its last breaths in India.
