Security forces to remain in Chhattisgarh beyond '26 deadline to prevent Naxals' return

While security forces are confident that Left Wing Extremism (LWE) will be wiped out from Chhattisgarh by March 31, 2026, a deadline set by the Centre, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will maintain their presence in the state beyond the deadline to ensure that there is complete sanitisation of all existing cadres of Naxals.

Highly placed security personnel said though they were duty bound to meet the deadline set by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to exterminate LWE from Chhattisgarh, CAPFs like CRPF would maintain their presence in the state for at least one more year (tentatively till 2027), to ensure that any kind of presence of Naxals is completely removed. Also, the move would ensure people in Naxal-infested places like Dantewada, Sukma, Kanker and Bijapur are able to access dense forest areas just like earlier times, which had become impossible after these regions had become long-standing bases of Naxalites.

Top officials believe that with forces maintaining their presence in the region even after the deadline, once engrained ideology of the Naxals will be prevented from resonating again with the locals, especially youngsters. Also, the presence of security forces will make sure that the scattered Naxal leaders are not able to regroup and make efforts to revive their operations in the region, the sources informed further.

CRPF Director General GP Singh last week had said by March 31, 2026, either the Naxals would surrender or would be neutralised. On April 21, around 10,000 personnel of the CAPFs and Chhattisgarh Police had launched a large-scale joint operation against Naxals. This operation, which ended on May 11, was one of the most comprehensive anti-Naxal campaigns, with several top cadres believed to be either killed or seriously injured. However, due to the difficult geographical conditions, the security forces have not yet been able to recover the bodies.

Singh had said that the operation has broken the back of the Naxals’ top leadership and “has to a large extent hastened the end of Naxalism in Chhattisgarh, which will go a long way in fulfilling the resolve of the Centre to end LWE in the country by March 31, 2026”.

Yet at the same time, he had informed that efforts to sanitise the region completely of all IEDs will continue for some time, so that it can be handed back to the state administration and authorities, once things get back to normal.