Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said Left wing extremism will be totally eliminated from the country in two years. Chairing a meeting to review the security situation in LWE-affected states, Shah also said the year 2022 witnessed the lowest number of incidents of violence and deaths in Naxal-hit areas in the last four decades.
“Naxalism is a curse to humanity and we are resolved to uproot it in all its forms,” he said. Officials said violent incidents in Naxal-affected states have reduced by 77 per cent in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010. The review meeting was attended by the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also attended the meeting where Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were represented by state ministers. Officials said there has been significant improvement in the LWE security situation in the country over the last five years.
The central government approved the ‘National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE’ in 2015. The policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security-related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc, the officials said. Steadfast implementation of this policy has resulted in a consistent decline in LWE violence across the nation, they said.
The number of deaths of security forces and civilians in LWE violence has also reduced by 90 per cent in 2022 as compared to the high of 2010, they said. According to the data prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 17,679 LWE-related incidents and 6,984 deaths between 2004 and 2014. In contrast, there have been 7,649 LWE-related incidents and 2,020 deaths from 2014 to 2023 (till 15 June 23), the data showed.
