Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Chhattisgarh on Sunday evening, 18 May for a high-stakes three-day visit, touching down at Raipur Airport to a reception by the state's top leadership. The visit spans security, development, and inter-state coordination — with Bastar, long the heartland of Left-Wing Extremism, as its focal point.

Grand Reception at Raipur

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Deputy Chief Ministers Vijay Sharma and Arun Sao, Finance Minister OP Choudhary, and a large contingent of senior ministers and legislators received Shah at the airport. The turnout reflected the significance the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attached to the visit, with party workers visibly energised by his arrival.

Day One: Dial-112 Launch and Bastar Programmes

On Monday, 18 May, Shah is scheduled to flag off vehicles for the Dial-112 emergency response service in Raipur — an initiative designed to strengthen the state's law and order machinery by ensuring rapid emergency assistance. He will then travel directly to Bastar to participate in multiple programmes centred on development and security. The itinerary reflects the government's stated priority of transforming Bastar into a Naxal-free zone.

Central Zonal Council in Bastar: A Historic First

The visit concludes on 19 May with a meeting of the Central Zonal Council in Bastar — notably the first time such a high-profile inter-state forum has convened in the region. Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand are expected to participate. The agenda covers security coordination, development priorities, and inter-state cooperation — issues that directly bear on the anti-Naxal campaign spanning multiple state borders.

Naxalism Decline and the Bastar Narrative

Chief Minister Sai described the visit as pivotal, saying that with Central government support, Chhattisgarh is advancing rapidly toward peace, good governance, and development. He credited Shah's guidance and the 'double-engine government' framework for a significant decline in Naxal activity across the Bastar region, alongside the opening of new development corridors. This comes amid a broader security push by the Centre, which has intensified anti-Naxal operations in the region over the past year.

What to Watch

The Central Zonal Council session in Bastar will be closely watched for any concrete security or development commitments emerging from the four-state chief ministers' meeting. Hosting the council in Bastar — rather than a state capital — is itself a political signal, projecting normalcy and institutional confidence in a region once considered too volatile for such gatherings. The outcomes of the meeting are expected to shape the Centre's roadmap for the region in the months ahead.