On December 25, 2024, a senior Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre, Aluva Swarna aka Swarnakka (50), surrendered before Superintendent of Police (SP) P. Shabarish in the Mulugu District of Telangana. Swarnakka, who hails from Potteeru village in the Kalimela Mandal (administrative subdivision) of Malkangiri District, Odisha, joined the CPI-Maoist Party in 2000 under the influence of Kalimela Area Committee ‘commander’ Ramanna. She served in various capacities, including as a protection cadre for high-ranking Maoist leaders, and participated in multiple violent encounters. At her surrender, she expressed her intention to lead a peaceful life with her family, citing disillusionment with the Maoist ideology and its futility.
On December 25, 2024, a CPI-Maoist cadre, Sudharu Kashyap (22), with a cash bounty of INR 800,000 on his head, surrendered before the Police under the ‘Lon Varratu’ (come back home) campaign in Dantewada District in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. Kashyap was active as a member of ‘Company Number Six’ of the ‘Eastern Bastar Division’.
On December 20, 2024, two CPI-Maoist cadres, Ramasu Poyam (55) and Ramesh Kunjam (25), with a cumulative bounty of INR 800,000, surrendered to the District Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra.
On December 15, 2024, five CPI-Maoist cadres carrying a total cash reward of INR 2.5 million surrendered before the Police in Sumka District in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. The surrendered cadres were identified as Dhanni alias Kalmu Jogi, was active as a party member from 2022 in Battalion number one, Company number two, Platoon number two, Section ‘A’, and carried a cash bounty of INR 800,000, another cadre Anvesh alias Aakash alias Vetti Bhima, had been with Company number 10 since 2021, to date, and was the ‘deputy commander’ with platoon number one, Section ‘A’, with a reward of INR 800,000; Mausam Mahesh of South Bastar Division ‘communication team commander’, additional in-charge division command member, and area committee member, who carried cash reward of INR 500,000; Hemla Munni of South Bastar Division, an ‘IT team member’, who carried a reward of INR 200,000; and woman cadre Maadvi Pojje, of South Bastar Division, a Chetna Natya Mandali (CNM) member. CNM is the CPI-Maoist’s cultural wing. All the surrendered cadres were involved in attacks on Security Force (SF) camps at Dharmavaram and Tekulguda in January this year.
On December 12, 2024, 11 CPI-Maoist cadres surrendered to authorities in the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh. Among the surrendered were key figures, including Jogendra Yadav, who played a pivotal role as the CPI-Maoist’s ‘agriculture committee president’, and Hemla Deva, the head of the movement’s ‘public relations committee,’ while the remaining nine individuals were identified as lower-tier cadres.
These are the most recent incidents of surrender of Naxalites [Left Wing Extremists, LWEs], marking a significant step towards peace and stability in the LWE-affected states across the country.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 472 Naxalites (331 in Chhattisgarh; 45 in Andhra Pradesh; 29 in Telangana; 26 in Jharkhand; 21 in Odisha; 18 in Maharashtra; and one each in Bihar and Kerala) have surrendered in the LWE-affected states across the country in the current year, thus far (data till December 29, 2024). During the corresponding period of 2023, 260 LWEs (194 in Chhattisgarh; 33 in Jharkhand; nine in Andhra Pradesh; eight in Telangana; six in Bihar; five each in Maharashtra and Odisha) had surrendered in the country. Another eight Naxalites (seven in Chhattisgarh and one in Telangana) surrendered in the remaining part of the year, taking the total to 268 through 2023. 2,855 Naxalites had surrendered in 2022 and 533 in 2021. Significantly, since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on LWE across the country, at least 17,224 Naxalites have surrendered in the country.
An analysis of the surrender data since March 6, 2000, also suggests that around 25.02 per cent have taken place in the troubled Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh, which is still considered a significant threat and the ‘final Maoist bastion,’ accounting for 4,311 surrenders, out of a total of 17,224 across the country. The Bastar Division is spread over a geographical area of over 40,000 square kilometres, and comprises seven of Chhattisgarh’s 33 districts: Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, and Sukma.
Most of the surrendered Naxalites revealed that they were being lured by the Government’s surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy, while some of them said that they realised the futility of armed struggle and decided to lay down their arms. In some cases, family members of the Maoists persuaded them to lay down arms after the arrest of their fellow cadres. Overall, the current spate of surrenders has substantially been the result of the SFs’ aggressive crackdown on Maoist activities.
In the intensified campaign against the rebels, SFs have neutralised 296 Naxalites across the country in 2024, while losing 24 of their own personnel, establishing a kill ratio of 1:12.33, the strongest in the last five years. On a year-on-year basis, the kill ratio over these five years was: 2023 at 1:1.80; 2022 at 1:4.46; 2021 at 1:2.50; 2020 at 1:3.04; and 2019 at 1:3.14, which is gradually witnessing the shrinking of the geographical dominance of the rebels.
It is significant to note here that the overall kill ratio has also favoured the SFs at 1:1.71 since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on LWE-linked violence across the country.
In the interim, through combing operations and raids, SFs have also arrested 435 Naxalites (265 in Chhattisgarh; 78 in Jharkhand; 48 in Telangana; 20 in Bihar; nine in Maharashtra; four each in Kerala and Odisha; three in Karnataka; two in Uttar Pradesh; and one each in Assam and Madhya Pradesh) in 2024 (data till December 29) across the country, in addition to 401 (134 in Chhattisgarh; 114 in Jharkhand; 69 in Telangana; 33 in Bihar; 10 in Andhra Pradesh; eight in Uttar Pradesh; seven in Maharashtra; five in Odisha; three each in Kerala and West Bengal; two in Madhya Pradesh; and one each in Assam and Delhi; and another 11 whose location remained unspecified) in 2023. 16,707 Naxalites have been arrested in the country since March 6, 2000.
The Union Government’s multi-pronged strategy of fortifying the security cordon in Maoist-hit zones, by setting up Forward Operating Bases (FOB), devising an attractive surrender and rehabilitation policy for those willing to give up arms and also pushing development and welfare schemes in areas ‘liberated’ from Maoist dominance, has given hope, and pushed the rebels to shun violence and choose rehabilitation.
On December 15, 2024, during his visit to Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah delivered a message to Left-Wing Extremists (LWEs) urging them to reject violence and choose rehabilitation, declaring,
Give up the path of violence, and we shall take care of your rehabilitation, or ignore our appeal for surrender and face resolute action by the security forces… I appeal to you all with folded hands to surrender. Have trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and join the mainstream. If you give up arms, then your rehabilitation is our responsibility. But we will not allow you to destroy peace in the land of Goddess Danteshwari anymore. If you give up arms, we shall welcome you with open arms, but if you continue on the path of violence, the forces will tackle you head on.
Talking of the road ahead, Shah asserted that the Union Government was committed to creating more avenues for local youth, including surrendered Naxalites, by promoting small-scale industries, dairy and other cooperatives, tendu patta reform, etc. He added that, of the 15,000 dwellings approved under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for Chhattisgarh, 9,500 were for the Bastar region alone.
On September 20, 2024, UHM Shah reiterated that the central government was committed to completely eliminating LWE from the country by March 31, 2026:
There was a time Naxals were spread everywhere and believed they would have a red corridor from Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) to Pashupatinath (Nepal). Today, their influence is just limited to four districts of Chhattisgarh. The central government is committed to completely eliminating Naxalism by March 2026. On that day, Naxals will be given their ‘aakhri salaam’ (last salute). I promise you that the Naxal menace will end before that.
The Union Government has framed the guidelines for the LWEs’ surrender-cum-rehabilitation scheme in the affected states, which will be valid till March 31, 2026.
Despite all that has been said and done, some concerns remain on the ground. A November 3, 2024, report revealed that, in Telangana, even as a number of Maoists laid down their arms, many who had surrendered have not been given agricultural land as promised, and are running from pillar to post. Though police officials promptly pay reward money in a hassle-free manner as soon as Maoist cadres’ surrender, most surrendered Naxalites said that, after receiving the cheque, they were left to fend for themselves. Most of them have been suffering from many health issues. The surrendered rebels blame revenue department officials for playing truant. Till 2018, there had been instances of former Naxalites managing to get hold of a piece of land for themselves, but since then, their requests for sanction of Government land have fallen on deaf ears. Some of them even tried their luck by getting in touch with political leaders, but with little success. Revenue officials, on the other hand, claimed that they treat each surrendered Maoist case separately and decide the package accordingly. Some officials point to the absence of the ‘assignment committee’, which used to deal with such matters before. For instance, Polichetti (name changed), a former ‘Regional Committee member’ in the People’s War Group (PWG) and now a farmer, says the plight of many surrendered Naxalites hasn’t changed much.
Intensified SF consolidation has overcome and overthrown the Naxalites in of most of their erstwhile areas of dominance across the country, resulting in a gradual increase in the number of surrenders by disillusioned Maoists. However, it is imperative that the Union Government as well as the LWE-affected State Governments comprehensively implement the proposed surrender and rehabilitation policies, along with aggressive developmental initiatives, particularly in roads, infrastructure, and communications, and deliver on what has been promised. This would increase the likelihood that the remaining Naxalites will give up violence and join the mainstream
