MP Declared Naxal-Free with Surrender of ‘Last’ 2 Naxal Leaders
Three tribal districts in Madhya Pradesh, Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, were earlier identified as the Leftwing extremism-affected districts, under the sway of the MMC zone
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav declared the state Maoist-free following the surrender of the ‘last’ two extremist leaders who were active in the state, on Thursday. The announcement came after the surrender of Deepak and Rohit of the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone, in Balaghat in the state.
While Deepak carried a bounty of `29 lakh, Rohit had a reward of `14 lakh on his head.
Three tribal districts in Madhya Pradesh, Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, were earlier identified as the Leftwing extremism-affected districts, under the sway of the MMC zone.
“Mandla and Dindori were earlier made Naxal-free. Balaghat district became Naxal-free today with the surrender of the last two remaining Maoist leaders. Madhya Pradesh today bid farewell to Lal Salam”, the Chief Minister declared.
With this, the nearly four-decade-long Leftwing extremism in Madhya Pradesh has come to an end, he said and described it a ‘historic achievement’ by the MP police and the Central forces.
“We had set a deadline to end Maoism in Madhya Pradesh by January 2026, two months ahead of the deadline set by the Centre. We achieved the feat even one month ahead of the deadline we had set ourselves,” he said.
He said that the counterinsurgency campaign intensified particularly in the last 18 months. Ten hardcore Naxals were killed in separate encounters in the last one year.
Forty-two Maoists of the MMC zone, carrying a cumulative bounty of `8.75 crore, have surrendered in the past few weeks in Balaghat in MP and Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, the Chief Minister said. All armed Maoist cadres in the MMC zone had been neutralised, some killed in encounters and others had surrendered, he said.
According to him, 38 security personnel had laid down their lives in the fight against Maoists in Madhya Pradesh in the last 37 years. “At least 800 ‘Gopaniya Sainik’ (secret cops) and more than 1,000 security personnel including the Madhya Pradesh police were deployed in the Leftwing extremism-hit regions in the state to bring an end to Maoism”, Chief Minister Yadav said.
