Maoist Menace Nears End as Government Declares ‘Red Corridor’ Collapse

“The country will be informed once the entire process is formally completed, but I can say that we have become Naxal-free,” Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha. He further asserted that Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, once considered the last bastion of the movement, has also been cleared. “Today, Naxalism has been almost eradicated from Bastar. The people of Bastar were left behind precisely because the shadow of ‘Red Terror’ loomed over the region. That is why development failed to reach them. Today, that shadow has been lifted, and Bastar is now on the path of development,” he added.

The announcement underscores the culmination of a prolonged and complex campaign against Maoist insurgency, which had once gripped vast parts of the country. The so-called “Red Corridor” stretched from Karnataka to Nepal, passing through Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and extending to Nepal, affecting governance and development across these regions for over six decades.

The origins of the movement trace back to May 24, 1967, in Naxalbari, a remote village in north Bengal. The uprising was triggered by the killing of a sharecropper and resulted in the deaths of 11 people. Initially directed against landlords, locally known as Jotdars, the movement was led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, and Jangal Santhal. It aimed to overthrow the state through armed agrarian rebellion based on Maoist ideology.

The movement soon expanded beyond rural resistance, capturing the imagination of students and young people in Kolkata, many of whom abandoned classrooms to join the cause. As the unrest spread through Naxalbari, Kharibari, and Phansidewa near Darjeeling, and extended to neighbouring states such as Bihar and Odisha by 1971, the government initiated a strong crackdown. The ensuing months witnessed hundreds of deaths in encounters and police custody.

However, the movement gradually lost momentum following the death of Charu Majumdar in police custody. Internal factionalism further weakened its structure, leading to a steady decline over the years.

The government’s latest assertion marks a turning point in India’s internal security landscape, indicating not only the dismantling of a long-standing insurgency but also the restoration of governance and development in regions once overshadowed by violence.