The PM’s comments on Maoist terrorism follow the surrender of 170 on Thursday alone in Chhattisgarh, a region of the country that has historically struggled with the Maoist threat.
Over 300 Maoists surrendered in the past 24 hours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday night at the NDTV World Summit 2025, highlighting his government’s crackdown on domestic terror groups and his ‘pain’ at the bloodshed and violence the fighting had caused.
“In the last 50-55 years thousands were killed by Maoist terrorists. These Naxals would not allow schools or hospitals to be built… they would not let doctors enter clinics… they would bomb institutions. Maoist terrorism was an injustice to the young people,” he said.
“I used to feel agitated… this is the first time I am expressing my pain to the world,” he said before a gathering that included Harini Amarasuriya, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and the former prime ministers of Australia and the United Kingdom, Tony Abbott and Rishi Sunak.
This is why my government, the Prime Minister said, has taken particular efforts to reach out to ‘these wayward youth’ and bring them back into the mainstream. “Today the country is seeing the result of these efforts,” the PM said, referring to the mass surrenders this week.
“Now, 303 Naxals have surrendered. These were not normal people… they were carrying bounties on their heads, and a huge cache of arms was recovered from them,” he said.
As a result of those mass surrenders, he said, the government has succeeded in reducing the number of Naxal-affected districts, across the country, to just 11 from 125 a decade ago.
The PM’s comments on Maoist terrorism follow the surrender of 170 on Thursday alone in Chhattisgarh, a region of the country that has historically struggled with the Maoist threat.
“Earlier, the headlines were about vehicles blown up in Bastar (a particularly badly-affected district) and security personnel killed. Today, youth there are organising ‘Bastar Olympics’. This is a big change,” the Prime Minister said, “Now, they will be able to celebrate Diwali.”
Bastar witnessed a potential watershed moment in the fight against Maoist terror this week after more than 150 Maoists – led by Central Committee member Rupesh alias Satish Kofa – laid down their arms and joined the mainstream, although Kofa told NDTV his focus is less on ‘surrendering’ and more on “changing the way of struggle for the people”.
The Prime Minister accused previous governments of allowing what he called an “ecosystem of Urban Naxals” to suppress discussion on Maoist violence.
“During the Congress regime, the ecosystem of ‘Urban Naxals’ was so dominant that no incident of Maoist terrorism would reach the people of the country. A very large censorship mechanism was in operation… Those who flourished under Congress rule, who captured institutions and called themselves Urban Naxals, worked to draw a curtain over Maoist terror,” PM Modi said.
