When 74 constables are reported killed in a Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh, the silence from the opposition can itself become a political weapon — and Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy wielded it sharply on Sunday, November 15, 2026, taking to X to accuse Rahul Gandhi and the Indian National Congress of failing to even offer condolences to the fallen security personnel.

Posting in Telugu, Reddy's charge was direct and layered. He alleged that Gandhi displays 'lip sympathy' — లిప్ సింపతీ — toward Naxalites by framing them as fighters against social injustice, while staying silent when their violence claims lives in uniform. The post stated, in translation: 'When 74 constables were killed at once in a Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh, Rahul Gandhi could not even offer basic condolences!'

The accusation: platforms for 'forces that want to fragment India'

Reddy did not stop at silence. He accused the Congress party of actively providing platforms to, in his words, 'forces that want to break the country' and 'those who seek gun-rule' — pushing the nation's future into darkness. The language is deliberate and pointed: it conflates political sympathy with structural support for armed insurgency, a framing the BJP has deployed systematically against Congress on internal security for over a decade.

The BJP's broadside against Congress on Naxalism has deep roots. The 2010 Dantewada ambush in Chhattisgarh, in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed in a single strike — one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces in the post-Independence era — became the original flashpoint of this political debate. That tragedy, more than a decade and a half old, still anchors BJP rhetoric whenever fresh violence erupts in the Red Corridor.

Congress under fire on the Red Corridor debate

The charge of 'soft on Naxalism' is among the most persistent in BJP's arsenal against Congress. BJP leaders have long argued that the opposition's focus on 'root causes' — poverty, displacement, tribal rights — amounts to providing intellectual cover for Maoist violence rather than demanding accountability for it. Congress, for its part, has historically countered that security-only approaches without addressing socio-economic grievances cannot sustainably pacify the Red Corridor.

Reddy, as BJP's Telangana state president, also carries a regional dimension here — Telangana borders Chhattisgarh and has its own history with Left-wing extremism, giving the attack a geographic resonance beyond national politics.

As of this report, there has been no official response from Congress leadership to Reddy's post. The Ministry of Home Affairs has not issued a statement on the specific incident cited. The deaths of security personnel in anti-Naxal operations remain an ongoing national security concern — and, increasingly, an acute political battleground.