NEW DELHI: In the year 2022, the security forces have achieved unprecedented success in their ongoing battle against left-wing extremism across the country, said the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday.
A statement issued by the ministry said that seven Maoists were killed while 436 were either arrested or surrendered in Chhattisgarh.
In Jharkhand, four Maoists were killed and 120 were arrested.
In Bihar, 36 Maoists were either arrested or surrendered. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, three Maoists have been killed by security forces.
The statement claimed that the security forces have achieved success in Operation Octopus, Operation Double Bull and Operation Chakrabandha in the fight against left-wing extremists.
As a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 'Zero Tolerance Policy' against left-wing extremism, Maoists were ousted, for the first time, from their strongholds in ‘Budhapahad’ situated at the Chhattisgarh -Jharkhand border and the extremely inaccessible areas of Chakrabandha and Bhimabandh in Bihar. In these places, permanent security forces camps have been set up, said the statement.
"All these areas were strongholds of top Maoists and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition, foreign grenades, Aero Bombs and IEDs were recovered by the security forces at these places," said the statement.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah lauded the CRPF and the State Security Forces for this decisive success and affirmed that the Ministry of Home Affairs will continue the 'Zero Tolerance Policy' against left-wing extremism and this fight will be further intensified.
"This success becomes even more important because many of these Maoists killed had bounties of lakhs and crores on their heads like Mithilesh Mahto, who had a reward of Rs. 1 crore," said the statement.
According to the release, this campaign reaching its final stage is proven by the fact that in 2022 in comparison to 2018, there has been a 39 per cent reduction in the incidents of left-wing extremism-related violence, 26 per cent reduction in the number of sacrifices made by the security forces, the civilian casualties have come down by 44 per cent, the number of districts reporting violence has decreased by 24 per cent and the number of these districts has been reduced to just 39 in 2022.