Urban Naxals are a big challenge, need to be recognised: Nanda
• A resolution will have to be taken to fight urban Naxals.
Shimla: BJP State Media Coordinator Karan Nanda participated in the national summit “Bharat Manthan 2025, Naxal-Free India” held at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. In this, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there was a detailed discussion about eradicating red terrorism from the country.
The program received guidance from Union Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leader Muralidhar Rao, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, Snigdha Reddy, IPS Praveen Vashisht, former DG CRPF Kuldeep Singh, Vice Chancellor Delhi University Prof Yogesh Singh, filmmaker Vipul Shah, Bastar Chhattisgarh IG P Sundarraj.
Karan Nanda said that urban Naxalism is a major challenge and we all urgently need to identify those who spread Naxalite ideology. Making films is a powerful medium to promote this ideology and has far-reaching consequences. A large-scale “Pinjra Tod” campaign was also launched in many educational institutions, which was a result of Maoist ideology.
Karan Nanda said that national BJP leader Muralidhar Rao was attacked twice by Maoists in 1980 and 1986, and the son of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Baburam Marandi was killed by Maoists. Naxalites not only do not want the country to develop, but also believe that democracy cannot benefit the country. The Radical Student Union, Popular Front India, and Campus Front India are also products of this ideology, which do not respect the Indian tricolor. He said that their audiology is misleading the public and youth. If the country is to be saved from Naxalite thinking in the future, its destructive intentions must reach the youth. Since the Narendra Modi government came to power in the country, and under the leadership of Union Minister Amit Shah, the MAHA has been listening to the army and acting on its suggestions. Previously, the Congress government did not listen to the army. Now, monthly meetings are held with forward forces like the CRPF and other armed forces. Maoism was at its peak in 2010, Naxal influence was seen in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Bihar.
Between 2006 and 2012, the central government had said that Naxalism was the biggest internal threat to the country. However, after 2017, the political will of Modi’s central government dealt a severe blow to Naxalism, and today Maoists are begging for a ceasefire. The central government provided modern weapons to the CRPF for this war, and the Cobra battalion played a major role in this war. Bastar district of Chhattisgarh and Lalgarh of West Bengal were affected by Naxalism, but the Modi government launched a major attack on Naxalism by linking it with development and jobs.
Today, with advanced technology, the Naxalite ideology will no longer hold water. 17,500 kilometers of roads are being built along this corridor at a cost of ₹20,000 crore, of which 15,000 kilometers have already been completed, and 600 post offices and 10,500 mobile towers have been installed. He stated that the Naxalite ideology will not survive in the face of development. Karan Nanda stated that for decades, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) has been one of India’s most brutal and profound internal security challenges. It has become a campaign of violence and destruction, not a struggle of the poor, as is often portrayed. Behind the guise of ideology, they have massacred civilians, targeted killings of security personnel, and carried out large-scale extortion. Operating through the so-called “Red Corridor,” Maoist insurgents thrived through clandestine funding, both domestic and foreign. By systematically disrupting healthcare, education, roads, and welfare schemes, they sought to weaken India from within, depriving the most backward districts of the promised development. At its peak, Naxalite violence paralyzed more than 180 districts across 10 states, creating a corridor of fear across the heart of the country. Villages were emptied, children were deprived of school, and entire communities were trapped in insecurity. Development projects—roads, power lines, and irrigation canals—became hostage to the violence. So far, more than 16,000 innocent people have lost their lives to Naxalite brutality. What flourished was not empowerment, but exploitation and coercion. Naxalite leaders enriched themselves, while the poorest paid the price in bloodshed and stagnation. This so-called revolution was, in reality, a deliberate attempt to slowly disintegrate India from within.
He said that after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, the turning point came when the government decided to attack the roots of insurgency. Under the leadership of Union Minister Amit Shah, the Home Ministry moved from a fragmented and defensive approach to a unified, whole-of-government approach against Naxalism. Now, instead of retreating, security forces took advantage of this vacuum and penetrated deep into the dense forests and rugged mountains that had been Maoist strongholds. Through coordinated operations and financial disruptions by central armed police forces, state police units, and intelligence agencies, the insurgent network was systematically dismantled. Misguided youth were given the opportunity to surrender, while security personnel launched continuous intelligence-based raids to dismantle the leadership of terrorism.
