Bhopal: BJP national president Amit Shah on Saturday declared that Chhattisgarh is “almost free of the Naxal menace” due to the efforts of the ruling BJP and targeted the Opposition Congress, saying a party that thinks that the rebel movement is a medium for revolution can never do any good for the state.
Addressing an election meeting at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, Mr Shah said incidents of Naxal violence have witnessed a downward trend in the past several years and credited the Raman Singh government for developing the state as a hub of power and cement production. He also credited the state government for helping Chhattisgarh get rid of the “sick state” tag.
“Chhattisgarh is now almost Naxal-free,” he said, releasing the party’s manifesto for the state where the BJP has been in power for three successive terms, since 2003.
Figures on Naxal violence and casualties in the Bastar region indicate that over the past three years more rebels have been killed in the state as compared to security personnel. In 2016, 222 Naxals were gunned down while the security forces lost 65 men in operations against the rebels. In 2017, 150 Naxals were killed as against 74 security personnel. In 2018, so far 21 Naxals have been killed as compared to 16 jawans. At the peak of Naxalism in 2010, 277 security personnel were killed as compared to 172 Naxals.
He blamed previous governments under the Congress for failure to curb the Naxal insurgency and neglecting the region.
