Amit Shah declares India ‘Naxal-free’: What it means and what lies ahead

Jayanta Kalita & Rajesh SharmaTIMESOFINDIA.COM
Mar 31, 2026 | 16:20 IST

Officials, however, stress that the end of Naxalism will be a gradual process rather than an absolute one, even if key operational targets have been achieved

The Maoist insurgency, which began in the 1960s, once stretched across a sweeping “Red Corridor” through central and eastern India. At its height in the mid-2000s, left-wing extremism affected 200 districts in at least 12 states and posed what former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called India’s “the single biggest internal-security challenge”.

Today, that footprint has shrunk sharply — both in territory and operational capacity — with security forces expected to tighten control over the few remaining affected districts.
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