Modi declares Naxalism largely defeated, warns of intellectual threat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day address on Saturday to declare that India had largely defeated the decades-long armed Naxalite insurgency but issued a stark warning about an ongoing ideological threat from intellectual backers of the movement. Speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi on the occasion of India's 80th Independence Day, Modi asserted that Maoist violence was "breathing its last" due to his government's sustained security and development policies since 2014.

The Prime Minister claimed success in eliminating the armed Naxalites who once controlled vast swathes of central and eastern India through violent rebellion. "For nearly four decades, Naxalism had held large parts of India and a huge section of its population in its grip, ruling through the barrel of a gun," Modi stated. He noted that over 3,500 security personnel had been killed in operations against the insurgency, a toll he said was higher than in many wars. Areas previously wracked by conflict now showed signs of development and were being integrated into the national mainstream, he added.

However, the core of his message focused on a new term he introduced: "dimagi...