Decades of armed conflict in India's heartland forests are giving way to something quieter — and more durable. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday, 23 October 2026, called the reported end of armed Naxalism a 'new dawn of peace, hope and national pride,' saluting the Central Armed Police Forces and state police for what he described as a historic turning point.

A salute to the forces who held the line

Patel's post offered an unambiguous tribute to the personnel on the ground. 'Salute to our Central Armed Police Forces and Police forces, whose courage and sacrifice have brought an end to armed Naxalism after decades,' he wrote. The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) — including the CRPF, BSF, and allied paramilitary units — have operated alongside state police in the densely forested corridors of central and eastern India for over two decades, absorbing significant casualties across hundreds of operations.

The Union Home Ministry has, in recent years, periodically reported declining violence figures and shrinking 'red corridor' districts. Patel attributed the breakthrough directly to the political stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the operational resolve of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has treated left-wing extremism as a top internal-security priority since taking charge of the ministry.

Why Ekta Nagar and Sardar Patel are woven into this moment

The timing of Patel's statement is deliberate. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas — 31 October — marks the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Deputy Prime Minister and the man who integrated over 560 princely states into the Indian Union. Gujarat is preparing to host the national celebrations at Ekta Nagar, the riverside complex in the state's Narmada district that is home to the Statue of Unity, the world's tallest statue built in Sardar Patel's honour.

Rashtriya Ekta Diwas was instituted in 2014 to commemorate Patel's legacy and reinforce national integration. By framing the Naxal-free milestone alongside this observance, the Chief Minister draws a direct line between Sardar Patel's original act of unification — stitching together a fragmented subcontinent — and what the government presents as the final absorption of insurgency-held territories into the national mainstream.

The long arc from insurgency to mainstream

India's engagement with left-wing extremism stretches back to the late 1960s, when the Naxalbari uprising in West Bengal sparked an ideology that eventually spread across a 'red corridor' running through Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana and parts of several other states. At its peak in the 2000s, the movement controlled significant swathes of forest territory and posed a challenge successive governments described as the country's gravest internal security threat.

The shift has come through a combination of sustained security pressure, infrastructure push into previously inaccessible areas, and targeted development schemes in tribal regions. Whether a complete, verifiable end to armed Naxalism has been formally declared across all districts is subject to ongoing official assessment — but the political signal from Gandhinagar is clear: the government considers this chapter closed.

As Gujarat lights up Ekta Nagar on 31 October and the nation observes Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the moment carries weight beyond ceremony — it is being positioned as proof that Sardar Patel's unfinished business of a truly unified Bharat is, at last, closer to complete.