Our Bureau
New Delhi
A major blow was dealt to India’s Maoist insurgency on Wednesday as Nambala Keshava Rao, the general secretary of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), was killed along with 26 other insurgents in a fierce encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district. The operation, based on intelligence reports about the presence of high-ranking Maoist leaders, also resulted in the death of one police officer, according to senior Chhattisgarh official Vivekan Sinha.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that this is the first time in thirty years that a Maoist leader of Rao’s stature—also known as Basavaraju—has been eliminated by government forces. Rao, who had an engineering background, was one of the country’s most wanted men, listed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The encounter is part of a wider government crackdown on Maoist rebels. Last month, Indian authorities launched “Operation Black Forest,” a military campaign aimed at dismantling Maoist strongholds. Since the operation began, 54 insurgents have been apprehended and 84 have surrendered across Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Maharashtra.
The Maoist insurgency, inspired by revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, began in West Bengal in the late 1960s and now spans over a third of India’s 600 districts, forming the so-called “red corridor.” The rebels maintain control over extensive territories across several states, despite recent government offensives pushing them back into forested areas and reducing violence.
According to government data, security forces killed approximately 287 rebels last year, mostly in Chhattisgarh. Since the insurgency began, over 10,000 people have died in the conflict.
