End of the Red Corridor: How India defeated Naxalism
For nearly sixty long years, an armed insurgency hollowed out the Republic's core. The Maoists proclaimed a "people's war" and, in the deep forests of India, governed in the shadows. They extracted dues, delivered their version of justice, and struck at those loyal to the Constitution. Naxalism kept the heartland in its hold while State responses in the past either faltered or fell short. That long and dark chapter is now ending. The goal of a Naxal-Mukt Bharat is well within reach.
The movement peaked with alarming reach. A 1967 spark at Naxalbari in West Bengal grew into an insurgency that spread through tribal heartlands of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The 2004 formation of CPI (Maoist) brought the factions under one banner, with greater coordination and resolve. At its peak, however, the scale was stark. By 2010, as many as 96 districts saw violence and 126 carried the Naxal-affected tag. Close to 12 crore Indians lived under what functioned as a parallel armed order. The Maoist pursuit of a 'Red Corridor' stretching across almost a fifth of India's geography was indeed, without exaggeration, her most serious internal security challenge.
The Naxal footprint began to shrink when political will shifted post-2014, and decisively after 2019. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naxalism was redefined as an integrated national security problem that cut across ministries and demanded a coordinated (whole-of-government) response. Union Home Minister Amit Shah drove this approach vigorously, matching sustained security operations with credible surrender and rehabilitation policies, and bringing personal oversight that enabled the system to deliver the desired outcomes.
What stood out was the speed at which operational gaps were closed. Backlogged procurement moved quickly, and modern equipment was sourced, when needed, from the Army, lending gear on the directions of the Union Home Minister. From anti-spike boots and sniper rifles to portable VSAT systems and air ambulances, requirements were met with rare urgency. To the forces on the ground, it sent one loud and clear message: the State stands firmly with you.
Two pillars anchored the approach. The first was a calibrated surrender-and-rehabilitation policy. When senior cadres laid down their arms, they were offered grants of up to Rs 5 lakh, a three-year monthly stipend of Rs 10,000, and support for housing and employment. Word travelled deep through kinship networks and trusted community intermediaries, amplified by All India Radio broadcasts in tribal languages that showcased real stories of those who returned and reintegrated into the mainstream.
The second pillar was uncompromising action against those who held out. Intelligence-led joint Operations executed meticulously by CRPF battalions, CoBRA units, District Reserve Guards, and state police helped in dismantling the armed groups. The results are telling. Naxal-affected districts have fallen from 96 in 2010 to 38 in 2024. A decadal comparison shows security force casualties down by about 73per cent and civilian deaths by 74per cent. In 2024, 290 Naxalites were neutralised-the highest in a year-but the more striking numbers lie elsewhere: 881 surrenders and 1,090 arrests. In 2025, till September, surrenders have crossed 1,225; in Chhattisgarh alone, over 1,000 cadres laid down their arms within a year.
At one point in Jagdalpur, more than 200 cadres, including central committee members, surrendered en masse, holding copies of the Constitution. Few images capture this transformation better than the shift from the gun to the Constitution.
Central to this shift was the CAPFs and the state police. Jungle-warfare trained CoBRA units, the Bastariya Battalion drawn from local tribal communities, and DRG units often comprising surrendered Naxalites who knew the terrain, were the composite force who went into the forests and held ground.
Capacity expanded steadily. Over the past six years, 336 security camps have come up in core areas, supported by 76 new helipads across Bastar and Jharkhand to ensure rapid mobility. Drone surveillance now reaches even Abujhmad (unknown hills), once seen as operationally out of bounds. These camps have served a dual purpose-restricting the Naxalite movement while steering development through the Niyad Nellnar (Your Good Village) initiative, which has brought banking, schooling, healthcare and Ayushman Bharat coverage to villages within a 10-km radius.
The impact of rehabilitation goes beyond what policy documents can measure. In Bastar, women who once carried weapons in the forests now manage the Bastar Café, serving both locals and security personnel. Former cadres inducted into the Bastar Fighters now protect the same villages they once intimidated. Every surrendered Naxalite living a stable public life disproves the Maoist calumny that the Indian State responds to dissent only with force.
At the top, the organisation has been systematically disrupted. The CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao, or Basavaraju, was taken out, pursuant to a strategy that tasked senior IPS officers to track the top leadership of Maoists. In past four years, over 18 central committee members have been neutralized or captured thereby fracturing the leadership and planning capacity. Simultaneously, the enforcement agencies, viz., NIA and ED, have targeted the funding networks, choking the financial flows that sustained the Maoist operations.
The goal of a Naxal-Mukt Bharat by March 31, 2026 stands effectively achieved. The 'Red Corridor,' once spread across 17per cent of the country, belongs to the past. Rehabilitation is picking up speed, and sustained governance is shutting the vacuum for good. Clarity and resolve drove this shift. Security forces were finally backed by an unequivocal policy after years of drift. Meanwhile, tribal communities that never signed up for a war waged in their name are getting to see roads, schools, and rights, in place of rhetoric. Our task is cut out. We now need to secure this peace.
The Writer is former Director General of Bureau of Police Research and Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India; Views presented are personal.
