Govt will continue zero tolerance policy against Left Wing Extremism, Terrorism: Home Minister Amit Shah
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General Kuldeep Singh has said that Budha Pahad in Jharkhand, which had been a stronghold of Maoists for three decades, has now been cleared of them successfully and permanent bases of security forces have been established.
Addressing media in New Delhi on successes achieved by the security forces against Left Wing Extremism (LWE), Mr Singh said, since April this year, they carried out three operations, namely, Operation Octopus, Operation Double Bull and Operation Thunderstorm at Budha Pahad to establish the camps of security forces and bring the area in control. He said, Security forces have won a decisive victory in the ongoing battle against Left Wing Extremism across the country.
Mr Singh also said that incidents of Left Wing Extremism have come down significantly by 77 percent from the highest level of 2 thousand 258 in 2009 to 509 in 2021. He also said that the area of influence of Maoists has also reduced significantly in districts, coming down from 96 districts in 2010 to only 39 districts in 2022. The CRPF DG informed that a special strategy against Left Wing Extremism is being adopted since 2019. The coordinated efforts and campaigns of Central and State security forces and related agencies have led to unprecedented success in the fight against LWE.
In his media briefing CRPF DG Kuldeep Singh also said, 14 Maoists were neutralised due to the various operations this year, of these seven were in Chhattisgarh, four in Jharkhand and three in Madhya Pradesh. He added that 36 Maoists were arrested in Bihar, 436 were arrested in Chhattisgarh and 120 were arrested and surrendered in Jharkhand. Soon after Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to Twitter to congratulate the CRPF and the State security forces on the decisive success, saying that the government will continue the zero tolerance policy against Left Wing Extremism and Terrorism and this fight will be further intensified.
