Congress Claim of 5,213 Naxal Attacks Since Amit Shah Became Min False

Congress tweeted on April 6, 2021 that 5,213 Naxal incidents and 1,416 civilian deaths have been reported since Amit Shah became the Union Minister for Home Affairs. This claim is false.

Congress made this claim after 22 security personnel were killed and 31 suffered serious injuries in a gunfight between security forces and LWE's in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur on April 3, 2021.

At 578, Chhattisgarh reported the highest number of LWE-linked violence incidents in the country in 2019 and 2020. The state saw a 20% increase in LWE incidents — 315 in 2020 from 263 in 2019. This was followed by Jharkhand (399), Maharashtra (96) and Odisha (95), and Bihar (88).

Chhattisgarh also reported 130 civilian deaths in the two years, followed by Jharkhand (80), Bihar (24), Maharashtra (23) and Odisha (17). No incidents or deaths were reported in West Bengal and UP in the past two years in such incidents.

A total of 95 security forces' personnel and 248 left-wing extremists were killed in the last two years in the country.

In 2015, the Centre had launched a 'National Policy and Action Plan', which aimed at addressing LWE in the country and also for the security and development of Naxal affected areas and their populations. A total of 11 schemes have been approved by the government for LWE affected areas since 2014.

As many as 90 districts in 11 states are considered as affected by such extremism, according to a 2019 government press report. Jharkhand (19) has the highest number of LWE-affected districts, followed by Bihar (16), Odisha (15), Chhattisgarh (14), Telangana (8), Andhra Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (3), Uttar Pradesh (3), Kerala (3), Madhya Pradesh (2) and West Bengal (1).

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At 8,782 incidents, the UPA 2 saw more attacks between 2009 and 2014 than the 4,969 incidents during the NDA 1 regime between 2014 and 2018. This is a reduction of 43%.

A total of 6,304 incidents and 1,706 deaths (civilians and security personnel) have been reported since 2014.

On October 7, 2018, former Union Minister Rajnath Singh had said left-wing extremism would be eliminated within three years. Similarly, in 2010, the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had claimed that his government would overcome left-wing extremism by 2013.

However, since the last 13 years, India has witnessed more than 15,000 LWE incidents and more than 5,000 civilian and security personnel deaths.