Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah led a crucial review meeting on Left Wing Extremism in New Delhi. The gathering included Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, and relevant officials from states affected by Left Wing Extremism, as well as Union Ministers and the National Security Advisor.

During the meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah emphasized that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, significant strides have been made in curbing leftist extremism in recent years. He noted that this battle has entered a decisive phase, expressing confidence that, with the determination of Prime Minister Modi and the cooperation of affected states, major successes against Left Wing Extremism were achieved in 2022 and 2023. Shah reiterated the government's commitment to completely eradicating Left Wing Extremism within the next two years.

Amit Shah highlighted that since 2019, vacuum areas have been shrinking, with 195 new Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) camps established, and a plan for an additional 44 new camps. He underscored the deployment of CAPFs, rationalization of development, and establishing camps in vacuum areas as top priorities of the Modi government.

The Union Home Minister stressed the need for continuous surveillance in areas liberated from Left Wing Extremism to prevent its resurgence. He also emphasized the importance of monitoring to prevent left-wing extremists from areas where the problem has been eliminated from taking refuge in other states.

Amit Shah mentioned the government's zero-tolerance policy towards Left Wing Extremism since 2014, which has resulted in the lowest levels of violence and deaths recorded in four decades. Notable reductions include a 52% decrease in Left Wing Extremism-related violence, a 69% decrease in deaths, a 72% decrease in security forces deaths, and a 68% decrease in civilian deaths between 2014 and 2023, compared to the period from 2005 to 2014.

Amit Shah disclosed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are collaborating with state agencies to target the financing of Left Wing Extremism. He called for collective efforts by affected states, forming joint teams of civil and police administration to dismantle the network of financial support for Left Wing Extremism. Shah also mentioned the increase in ex-gratia payments for victims of Left Wing Extremism from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in 2017, further raised to Rs 40 lakh.

Regarding development in Left Wing Extremism-affected states, Amit Shah highlighted various initiatives, including road construction, telecommunication, financial inclusion, skill development, and education. He mentioned the launch of over 14,000 projects under the Special Central Assistance (SCA) scheme to expedite development in the most affected districts, with more than 80% of them completed.

Additionally, Rs 3,296 crore has been released to Left Wing Extremism-affected states under the scheme. Projects worth Rs 992 crore have been sanctioned for the construction of Fortified Police Stations, strengthening State Intelligence branches, and Special Forces of Left Wing Extremism-affected states under the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS). In the last nine years, the Modi government has more than doubled the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) compared to the previous period.

Image source: PIB