Anti-Naxal operations to be intensified further, jawans' sacrifices will not go in vain: Amit Shah

Security forces will intensify the anti-Naxal operations in the coming days and will not be cowed down by attacks, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday, emphasising that the sacrifice of 22 security personnel in Chhattisgarh will be remembered for taking the battle against the Naxals to a "decisive turn".

Shah, who reached Jagdalpur Chhattisgarh in the morning, held a review meeting with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, senior officials of the state police and the CRPF and took stock of the situation.

This was Shah's first visit to Bastar region, considered a Naxal hotbed, after assuming the charge of Union Home Minister in May 2019.

Read | Amit Shah pays homage to security personnel martyred in Naxal attack

Sources, meanwhile, said security agencies are looking into a claim made by Naxals that they have abducted a CoBRA commando after the ambush on Saturday. While 22 personnel were killed and 31 injured, one personnel Rakeshwar Singh Minhas of the 210th CoBRA battalion was missing.

After the high-level meeting in Jagdalpur, Shah said, "I want to assure the country that this fight will not be stopped, rather it will continue with more intensity till the end. In this fight, our victory is definite in the end."

He said their supreme sacrifices "will not go in vain" and the country would always remember them. "In the last few years, the fight against Naxals has reached a decisive turn and this unfortunate incident has taken the fight two steps ahead," he said.

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During the meeting, Shah said, Baghel and other security officials suggested that the encounter should not have an impact on the intensity of the anti-Naxal operations. He said this showed that the morale of the forces is intact and high.

He said both the Centre and state government have jointly made inroads into Maoist strongholds and such incidents "come to fore out of their frustration". In the last 5-6 years, he said, the authorities have achieved success in setting up camps of security forces in the interior areas.

Though the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the pace, he said several developmental works have been done.

"But, I believe that action is being taken on all the suggestions received from tribal public representatives, chief minister and MPs from the state," Shah said.

He said governments at the Centre and the state have been working to expedite development works in tribal areas and to intensify action against the extremists.