Bastar Declared Naxal-Free: The Bloody Cost of Peace in Chhattisgarh

Bastar has officially been declared Naxal-free as of March 31, but this milestone comes at a staggering cost. The decades-long conflict claimed the lives of a state minister, two Superintendents of Police (SPs), dozens of political leaders, and thousands of personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).

Having reported from this region since 1995 for *The Times of India*, I have been a frontline witness to the insurgency's devastating trajectory.

At its peak, the Maoist corridor stretched from Pashupatinath in Nepal to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. To counter the threat administratively and tactically, the original undivided Bastar was carved into over a dozen districts. The region saw a massive militarization akin to Kashmir, with the deployment of 72,000 security personnel across the BSF, CRPF, CISF, SSB, and RPF. The Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College was established in Kanker, initiating specialized commando training mentored by the Army.

During those years, venturing into Bastar after sunset was perilous. General elections were often reduced to mere formalities. Election Commission officials would secure Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in fortified local police stations before being evacuated to headquarters by Army helicopters well before dusk. Under the shadow of Maoist boycott calls, voter turnout languished at a dismal five to seven percent. The security situation was so dire that during the 2003 Assembly elections, the government handed over polling security operations entirely to the Punjab Police and the BSF.

The unpredictability of violence was a constant reality. On one occasion, while traveling by road from Jagdalpur to the Dantewada temple, my team stopped for tea at Geedam. Shortly after we departed for Dantewada, 35 kilometers away, heavily armed Maoists arrived in buses. They forced local markets to shut and besieged the Geedam police station—a heavily fortified citadel on the highway. They executed the Sub-Inspector, looted the armory, and retreated unhindered.

Much like the bunkers during the height of the Kashmir militancy, every police station in Bastar was transformed into a fortress, ringed with concertina wire and high barricades. The terrain itself was weaponized. Maoists aggressively mined the rural stretches of Bastar, leading to catastrophic ambushes, most notably the massacre that left 76 CRPF personnel dead in a single strike.

Infrastructure development was at a complete standstill. When the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) attempted to lay road networks 25 years ago, they met fierce resistance. State-run hospitals and schools were forced to shut down. In their absence, Naxalites established a parallel administration, appointing locals to run makeshift village schools.

This parallel government extended deep into civil administration. Official police records corroborate that Maoists maintained land registries, processed property mutations, and systematically collected land revenue.

The psychological toll on law enforcement was immense. Ma Danteshwari, the presiding deity of Bastar, became a symbolic shield for officers. Top brass, including Inspectors General (IG) and SPs, abandoned their uniforms to avoid becoming targets. Official police jeeps were discarded; patrols were conducted in unmarked civilian vehicles flying the flag of Ma Danteshwari rather than police insignia.

Any deviation from these survival tactics proved fatal. When a newly posted IPS officer in Dantewada mandated that his personnel wear uniforms and utilize official vehicles with police flags, the consequences were immediate and tragic. On the very first day of the directive, eight jawans were killed in an ambush. The then-Governor of Chhattisgarh, a former IG of Bihar, publicly lamented the move as a "tactically immature action."

Today, Bastar is attempting to turn a definitive corner. Signaling a shift from counter-insurgency to economic revitalization, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has pitched the "Bastar-2" development blueprint to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aiming to replace landmines with industry and integration.