Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent Diwali on Sunday with security personnel at a CoBRA operations base in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district, declaring that this was the first festival of lights when every district in India was free from Naxalism.

Addressing personnel at the Karanpur base, Mr. Modi said the country had won its decades-long battle against Maoist terror. "This is the first Diwali where every single district in the country is free from Naxalism," he said, thanking the forces for a campaign he credited with freeing millions of citizens from the fear of Maoist violence.

The visit marked the 13th consecutive year Mr. Modi has celebrated Diwali with defence or security personnel since becoming Prime Minister in 2014, and the first since the Centre declared the country free from Naxalism on March 31, 2026.

A first in 47 years

Mr. Modi highlighted what he called a historic milestone in the country's internal security record: not a single CRPF jawan had lost his life while on duty over the past year, the first such year in 47 years. He credited the government's policies, the determination of the forces and the courage of personnel on the ground.

The Karanpur base served as a training centre and launch pad for counter-insurgency operations in Bastar and Abujhmad, areas once considered major strongholds of the Maoist insurgency. Personnel from the CRPF, CoBRA, BSF, ITBP, SSB, state police and units such as the Bastar Fighters were present for the Prime Minister's address.

From 230 districts to zero

The Prime Minister recalled the scale of Left-Wing Extremism at its peak, when it affected more than 230 districts across nearly 20 states, with as many as 2,000 attacks in a single year. He referred to the 2010 attacks in nearby Dantewada, in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed in one encounter and 44 civilians in another incident the same year, and said that between 2004 and 2013 more security personnel were martyred each year than Naxals killed.

He said the government had combined security operations with development work to tackle the roots of the problem, pointing to more than 15,000 km of roads and 9,500 mobile towers built in Left-Wing Extremism-affected areas. Bastar, he said, was now entering a new phase of development because of the sacrifices of the security forces.

A note of caution

Even as he declared the armed insurgency defeated, Mr. Modi warned that what he called "ideological Naxalism" remained a concern, saying the threat had not completely disappeared. The challenge now, he suggested, was to sustain the calm — through development, jobs and governance in districts that spent decades under the shadow of violence — and to ensure that the gains of the security campaign are not lost.