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Story So Far: Indian Govt's Brutal Anti-Maoist action Raises Eyebrows

The government intensifies counterinsurgency operations in central India.

Credit : Indie Journal

 

Aditi Singh | In February this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on X that the government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, would make India “Naxal-free” by March 2026. The declaration followed the killing of 31 alleged Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, an operation hailed by the Centre as a major milestone. Since then, several such operations followed, where the government announced that many Naxalites, including some major leaders, were killed. However, many on the ground have raised concerns about civil liberties, misidentification and the continued alienation of Adivasi communities and have alleged that several tribals have also been killed in these encounters.

Since the first operation in February, security operations across tribal areas in central India have intensified, leaving behind a trail of encounters and arrests. Between January and March 2025 alone, over 140 alleged Maoists were killed, many in areas like Bijapur, Sukma and Kanker, which are home to large Adivasi populations. As compared to the "kill count" of this year, only 23 alleged Maoists were killed in Chhattisgarh in 2023 and 235 in 2024. 

In March, as part of Operation Kagar, 17 people, 11 of them women, were killed in a single day in Sukma. Another 31 were killed in April in Karreguttalu Hills, on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, in a 21-day joint operation named 'Operation Black Forest'. While the government has cited these operations as critical to dismantling Maoist strongholds and recovering arms caches, critics have questioned the motives and methods behind the surge in violence. Activists argue these figures don’t just represent insurgents but often tribal residents caught in the crossfire or mislabelled as combatants, resulting in extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses.

 

 

The killings have largely taken place in mineral-rich areas where Adivasi communities have long resisted land acquisition and resource extraction projects. Activists and journalists in Bastar and surrounding regions have repeatedly warned that security operations in these areas may be functioning as a prelude to corporate expansion, with military camps facilitating access for mining activities and infrastructure projects. The arrest of 23-year-old Adivasi activist Raghu Midiyami by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 27 February 2025 raised alarms about the criminalisation of tribal dissent. Midiyami, a prominent organiser with the now-banned Moolwasi Bachao Manch (MBM), had been actively involved in more than 30 peaceful protests across Bastar, including the four-year-long demonstration at Silger against the establishment of a CRPF camp.

These interventions often displace indigenous communities from their lands, disrupt local economies and increase surveillance in already marginalised regions.

The government’s language, too, has drawn scrutiny. In a February 9 post on X, Amit Shah hailed the “historic” killing of 31 Maoists in Bijapur and reaffirmed the March 2026 deadline, promising a future of “development and rehabilitation”. But critics say this framing prioritises kill count and an unrealistic deadline over addressing root causes like poverty, land alienation and the lack of political voice.

 

 

The gendered nature of recent encounters has also raised alarm, especially after reports of 11 women killed in the Sukma-Bijapur encounter. In many of the forest villages, tribal women living, farming, and surviving in proximity to Maoist areas are vulnerable to misidentification. Tribal rights activist Soni Sori has consistently raised the issue of  systematic rape and murder committed against tribal women during such operations.

In addition to killings, mass arrests and surrenders have accelerated. In Bijapur in April, 22 alleged Maoists were arrested with weapons and explosives. Around the same time, 33 individuals surrendered in Sukma, with Badesetti village declared “Naxal-free” and eligible for a Rs 1 crore development grant. Incentives offered to those who surrender include subsidised rice, education and access to health insurance. However, concerns have been raised around these surrender policies that may pressure Adivasis to falsely admit Maoist affiliations in order to access welfare benefits. The long-standing issues of exploitation, land loss and state neglect have not been adequately addressed in the current security-centric approach.

Political opposition has also begun to surface. On 28 April, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao described the ongoing operations as unfair to tribal youth and called for peace talks with Maoist groups. Activists have also drawn parallels to the now-defunct Salwa Judum, a controversial militia-backed campaign that left hundreds of tribals displaced and traumatised in the 2000s. The CPI(ML) has also issued a statement calling the killing of General Secretary of CPI(Maoist) Comrade Keshav Rao and other Maoist activists and Adivasis in Narayanpur-Bijapur "cold-blooded and extra-judicial". The party has asked citizens to "insist on a judicial probe into the massacre and demand an immediate end to the military operation, especially when the Maoists have declared a unilateral ceasefire".

 

 

Between May 19 and 21, security forces launched a major anti-Maoist offensive in the Abujhmad forests, an inaccessible tribal zone spanning Narayanpur, Bijapur and Dantewada. The operation concluded with the killing of 27 individuals, including CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao, alias Basavaraju. Originally from Andhra Pradesh, Basavaraju was wanted for several attacks, including the 2010 Dantewada ambush and the 2013 Jheeram Ghati massacre.

Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the killing as a “landmark achievement in the battle to eliminate Naxalism”. Yet, the scale of the Narayanpur operation has sparked a new wave of concerns. These encounters have taken place even though the CPI(Maoist) has expressed its willingness for a “unilateral ceasefire, unless attacked”. CPI general secretary D. Raja condemned the encounter, alleging it reflected a pattern of extrajudicial action rather than legal due process. The CPI(Marxist) has issued a statement has condemned that the Central Government and the BJP-led Chhattisgarh Government has chosen not to pursue a solution through dialogue. The party has appealed to the government to accept the request made by many political parties and concerned citizens to hold talks. Human rights activist G. Haragopal has raised the issue of fake encounters and demanded a fair investigation. Civil rights activists and intellectuals have questioned whether all those killed were insurgents or if some were Adivasis wrongly branded as Maoists. 

 

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