Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 8 November 2026, launched a sharp attack on previous governments over their handling of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE), accusing them of treating Naxalism as an unsolvable problem while security personnel and tribal communities bore the brunt of relentless violence. Speaking to security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar on the occasion of Diwali, Modi recalled a period when nearly 230 districts across around 20 states were gripped by Maoist terror.

Scale of the Crisis Under Previous Governments

Modi painted a stark picture of the LWE-affected era, describing how daily life in Naxal zones had effectively ceased after sunset. 'Life would come to a standstill after sunset, and stepping out of homes became nearly impossible. People were stripped of their voting rights,' he said, naming Bihar, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh as states that bore the heaviest burden.

He cited figures indicating that the country witnessed as many as 2,000 Maoist attacks in a single year at the peak of the insurgency — a scale of violence he described as a persistent challenge spanning several decades.

Dantewada Attacks and the Human Cost

Modi specifically recalled the 2010 Dantewada attacks, among the deadliest episodes of Maoist violence in recent Indian history. He noted that 76 CRPF personnel were martyred in an encounter with Naxalites in the Dantewada region, while a separate attack in the same district that year killed 44 civilians.

'This land was soaked in the blood of our bravehearts. However, not a single tear fell from the eyes of any of the high-born residents of the palaces,' he said, in a pointed criticism of the then political leadership's response to the carnage.

Broadening the indictment, the Prime Minister stated that in Chhattisgarh alone, over 1,000 security personnel were martyred over the years. He added that data from 2004 to 2013 showed that every year, the number of security force personnel killed exceeded the number of Naxalites neutralised — a statistic he said the Naxal leadership openly celebrated.

Modi's Charge Against the Previous Leadership

The Prime Minister was unsparing in his condemnation of the approach taken before 2014, alleging a fundamental failure of political will. 'Unfortunately, the governments of that time treated Naxalism as an incurable disease and left it unaddressed. My tribal families were left to their fate, and it was accepted that this state of affairs would simply continue — bullets will be fired, soldiers will die, and civilians will be beaten,' he said.

He argued that no nation could afford to passively accept ongoing violence from internal enemies, framing the absence of decisive action as a governance failure that compounded the suffering of affected communities for decades.

Post-2014 Shift and Current Strategy

Modi attributed the turnaround in the anti-Naxal campaign to a strengthening of political will after 2014, contending that a clear and carefully devised strategy replaced what he characterised as fatalistic acceptance. 'For the nation to move forward, its enemies must be crushed — with unwavering resolve and a well-devised strategy. The political will that was lacking in our nation to do this was strengthened in 2014,' he said.

Referring to himself as 'Pradhan Sevak', Modi said, 'You gave this Pradhan Sevak an opportunity to serve Maa Bharati, and everyone witnessed how the situation began to change after 2014.' The address in Bastar — historically one of the most Naxal-affected regions in the country — served as a symbolic backdrop for the message, underscoring the government's claim of progress in rolling back LWE influence. How the remaining Naxal pockets respond to sustained security pressure will be watched closely in the months ahead.