Maoist brass thins rapidly due to Centre’s push, internal rifts
With six months to eliminate Naxalism, CPI (Maoist) ranks have dwindled, leading to increased surrenders and reduced affected districts in India.
With six months remaining in the Union government’s self-imposed deadline to eliminate Left Wing Extremism (LWE), or Naxalism, the ranks of the CPI (Maoist) have thinned to only three politburo members and 9 central committee members, officials familiar with the matter said.
Of the three politburo members, only two are believed to be active. The third, Mupalla Lakshman Rao, alias Ganapathy, one of the most wanted men in the country, is no longer active, they added, asking not to be named. The assessment is based on a list prepared by security forces in Chhattisgarh.
The officials said that at its peak between 2003 and 2010, the proscribed CPI(Maoist) had around 40-45 central committee members, of which 10-14 were politburo members. The politburo is the highest decision making body of the CPI(Maoist). One politburo member, Mallojula Venugopal alias Bhupathi surrendered before the Maharashtra chief minister along with other cadres on Wednesday.
After the death of CPI(Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju alias Nambala Keshava Rao on May 21, the CPI(M) is a divided house, one of the people said.
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That was evident in Bhupathi’s letter in September suggesting a ceasefire, and a response from another faction that this was more a personal statement and not a party position. The fact that Bhupathi has surrendered with 60 others highlights the discord, this person added.
The officer said the two active politburo members are Thippary Tirupati alias Sanjeev and Misir Besra alias Bhaskar. Security forces claim Besra is a diabetic and in poor health. The remaining six central committee members are: Pullari Prasad Rao alias Chandranna, Ganesh Uikhey alias Rajesh Tiwari, Anil Da alias Tufan da, Mall Raja Reddy alias Sangram, Ramdev alias Majidev, and Madhvi Hidma.
The Union government has set a deadline of March 31, 2026 to eliminate Naxalism from the country. Towards meeting this deadline, police and central armed security forces are conducting anti-naxal operations across different states, but mainly in Chhattisgarh. This year at least one politburo member (Basavaraju) was killed, as were eight other central committee members. Two others, Sujata (wife of slain Maoist leader Kishenji) and Bhupathi have surrendered.
On Wednesday, as Bhupathi and others were laying down arms at a function in Maharashtra, 50 cadres surrendered before a BSF team in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. “Another 120 cadres are expected to surrender in Bijapur tomorrow. Apart from this talks are being held and a few more senior cadres are expected to surrender within the next one week,” the officer cited above added.
On Wednesday, the Union home ministry said in a statement that the number of districts classified as most affected by Naxalism have been brought down from six to three—Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur (all in Bastar area of Chhattisgarh). Kanker(Chhattisgarh), West Singhbhum(Jharkhand) and Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) have been removed from the list.
“In the category of LWE affected districts the number has also been further brought down to just 11 from 18. Now only 11 districts are LWE affected. The Modi government is committed to completely eradicate the Naxal menace by the 31st of March 2026. Under the leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the operational successes have surpassed all previous records this year wherein 312 LWE cadres have been eliminated... 836 LWE cadres have been arrested and 1,639 have surrendered and joined the mainstream,” the government said in a statement, adding that in 2013, 126 districts from different states reported Naxal-related violence.
By March 2025, this tally had fallen to just 18 districts, and now, further, to 11.
