‘Those who want to surrender will be welcomed on red carpet’: HM Shah urges Maoists to lay down arms

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday, outlining the Centre’s approach to ending Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) and urging cadres to give up arms and embrace rehabilitation, said “those who want to surrender and want to leave violence will be welcomed on red carpet”.

Addressing the valedictory session of ‘Bharat Manthan-2025: Naxal Mukt Bharat’ at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, the Home Minister described the government’s strategy combining security operations, development initiatives and political outreach.

He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government with a decline in violence and fatalities, and reiterated a target to make India LWE-free by March 31, 2026.

The Home Minister cited figures to underline gains — a reported 70 per cent reduction in deaths of security personnel and an 85 per cent fall in civilian fatalities in affected areas during 2014–2024 compared with 2004–2014.

He said 10,500 Maoists have surrendered, while hundreds have been neutralised, arrested or detained in recent years. “We don’t want to kill anyone,” he added, calling the surrender policy attractive and emphasising rehabilitation.

He also highlighted a sharp fall in arms supplies to insurgents since 2019.

Home Minister Shah framed the fight as ideological and societal, calling for identification of those who provided ideological, legal and financial support.

“Who helped LWE ideologically, who financed them, aided them socially and legally — we need these Maoists to come forward,” he said, urging society to reject extremist narratives even as security forces respond firmly to armed violence.

The Home Minister linked improvements in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast to connectivity, governance and law enforcement.

He also noted the revocation of Article 370 and asserted drops in security and civilian deaths in Jammu and Kashmir, while pointing to high voter turnout in recent elections as evidence of normalisation.