March 31 deadline arrives with Naxalism all but wiped out. Smart security ops are one reason. But so is govt outreach in once-forgotten areas. Deepening that is the best guarantee against a revival of extremism
When Amit Shah set March 31 as the target to eliminate Naxalism, it signalled a moment of unusual confidence in India’s long battle against leftwing extremism. Yet, the story of its decline is less about a single deadline, and more about a slow, uneven recalibration of state strategy – one that has steadily narrowed both the geography, and the intensity, of the conflict.