At least 29 alleged Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces in the forests of southern Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on Tuesday (April 16), exactly 10 days before the district goes to polls in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on April 26.
The operation is the largest (in terms of Maoists’ bodies recovered) since the creation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, and among the biggest successes for security forces in their decades-long fight against left-wing extremism (LWE).
Major Maoist encounters in Chhattisgarh, since the state’s formation in November 2001.
Pushing into ‘unknown hills’
The operation saw security forces push deep into the Maoist stronghold of Abujhmad (literally, “the unknown hills”) — a 4,000 sq km swathe of forest land in southern Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, mainly covering the districts of Narayanpur, Bijapur, and Dantewada, just south of Kanker. Only a small part of the forest falls in Kanker.
The difficult terrain, absence of roads, and presence of LWE has meant that 90% of Abujhmad, bigger in terms of area than Goa, remains unsurveyed by the government. These jungles are, thus, used both as safe havens and transit corridors by Maoists to travel between Maharashtra (to the west), Andhra Pradesh (to the south), Telangana (to the southwest), and Odisha (to the east) via Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district.
Those who were killed
Sources in the Chhattisgarh police told The Indian Express that the CPI Maoists’ Partapur Area Committee (PAC) may have been wiped out in the operation. Over the years, the PAC has been accused of carrying out several deadly attacks, including the killing of a BSF jawan in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast during the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections last year.
But those killed may also have been a part of the Jan Militia (People’s Militia) — local tribals who provide logistical and other support to Maoist fighters — sources said, citing the area in which the encounter took place, and the cache of crude country-made weapons recovered.
“The People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), the well-armed core of CPI Maoist’s military strength, does not operate much in Kanker, and is concentrated on South Bastar instead. But training camps are held for the Jan Militia between February and June, when security forces conduct their Tactical Counter-Offensive Campaign (TCOC),” a senior official said.
LWE in Chhattisgarh
Chhatisgarh is the only state in which Maoists continue to have a significant presence, and retain the capability to mount big attacks. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) website, there are 70 LWE-affected districts in the country. Of these, 15 are in Chhattisgarh alone. Of the 25 “Most LWE affected Districts”, seven are in Chhattisgarh, while eight are in Jharkhand.
According to data presented by the government in Parliament, between 2018 and 2022, there were 1,132 “violent incidents perpetrated by Left Wing Extremists” across the country, in which 168 security force personnel and 335 civilians lost their lives. Chhattisgarh accounted for over a third of these incidents, and more worryingly, for 70-90% of deaths.
In the same period security forces have also killed 328 Maoist cadres, in over 400 planned operations.
The government’s ‘final push’ against LWE
Chhattisgarh, and to a lesser extent Jharkhand, is a part of the government’s “final push” against LWE. This has seen central forces such as CRPF setting up bases deeper inside Maoist strongholds such as the jungles of Abujhmad. In the past few years, more than two dozen bases have been set up in Abujhmad, with Kanker’s Rowghat jungles too seeing new camps.
After the BJP came to power in Chhattisgarh last year, a few new police camps have been set up on the two main entry points to Abujhmad — from Kanker in the north, and Narayanpur in the east. The police have also crossed the Kotri river, a tributary of the Indravati-Godavari, and established a new base camp in Abujhmad.
An official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Indian Express that it is this that made the operation possible.
Two of Bastar’s biggest encounters against Maoists since 2006 have taken place this month. Before the one in Kanker, 13 alleged Maoists were killed in Bijapur district on April 1. A total 79 alleged Maoists have been killed so far this year. For perspective, 65 alleged Maoists were killed in all of 2019.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during an election rally in Chhattisgarh last Sunday, promised to “end Naxalism in three years” if the BJP is voted to power for a third term.
That being said, Maoists still control significant territory, and retain the capability to launch big attacks. Sundarraj P, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, said that improvised explosive devices (or IEDs) remain a major threat to security forces. To avoid major casualties, Maoists have adopted a strategy of working only in small action teams of the kind that hacked to death a Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) commander in Bijapur in February.
Concerns over rights violations
The government’s push has also seen human rights activists and families of slain alleged Maoists mount accusations of fake encounters against security forces. In February, wives of three men killed in an encounter, along with other locals, marched to a police station in Kanker claiming that the deceased were innocent villagers.
After the killing of 13 alleged Maoists on April 1, lawyer and activist Bela Bhatia had alleged that the encounter was fake.
Kawasi Lakma, a former Congress minister and six-time MLA from Konta in Sukma district, had told The Indian Express in an interview: “When we (Congress) were in power, except the Silger incident (May 2022), where three tribals were killed, no other incident occurred. There have been 10 incidents of police firing since the BJP took over four months ago. Today, even ordinary tribals who may be going to the market or a fair are seen as Naxals by the government.”
Security personnel during an encounter with Naxalites, in Kanker district, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (PTI Photo) 
Major Maoist encounters in Chhattisgarh, since the state’s formation in November 2001.
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