Maoism to be eliminated from India by March 31: Home Minister Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday (February 21, 2026) asserted that the forces responsible for internal security would eliminate Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by March 31.

Addressing the 87th Raising Day parade of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at a multi-sports complex in Guwahati, Mr. Shah praised the force for successfully containing the Maoist issue in three years.

“My confidence in the CRPF makes me reiterate that we will rid the country of the Maoist problem by March 31,” he said. “When the red terror ends in the country, I will say without hesitation that the CRPF and its CoBRA battalions had a big role in it. The nation should always remember this,” Mr Shah said.

He cited several instances when CRPF personnel foiled terror attacks and fought soldiers from across India’s borders. “The CRPF’s fight against Chinese soldiers at a hot spring in Ladakh in 1959 and at Sardar Post in Kutch in 1965 is the primary reason why we observe Police Commemoration Day on October 21 and Shaurya Diwas on April 9,” he said.

Mr. Shah praised the CRPF for ensuring peace across three major hotspots in the country—Jammu & Kashmir, the northeast, and the Maoist-affected belt of central India. He said that the CRPF, along with the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Jammu & Kashmir Police, played a major role in maintaining law and order after the abrogation of Article 370. He added that stone-pelting ceased in the Union Territory, leading to investment and development.

“The CRPF is playing its role in maintaining peace in the northeast. We had to deploy the CRPF finally in Manipur to curb the ethnic violence,” he said. He noted that the CRPF, which began its journey in July 1939 with two battalions, has grown into the world’s largest central armed police force with 3.25 lakh personnel across 248 battalions. “We cannot think of internal security without this force,” he said. 

Mr. Shah said that he sleeps peacefully at night because of his confidence that the CRPF would succeed in handling any law-and-order situation across the country.

Paying tribute to 2,270 personnel who have died in the line of duty since the force was established, he said 780 were killed in Maoist-affected areas, 700 in the eight-State northeast, 540 in Jammu & Kashmir, and 250 in the rest of India.

Earlier, CRPF Director General Gyanendra Pratap Singh said that the force has prioritised both physical fitness and mental well-being of personnel, and introduced a transparent system for non-combat postings based on performance.