Left wing extremism: What’s the truth behind Congress’ Naxal attacks claim?
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.
A total of 95 security forces’ personnel and 248 left-wing extremists were killed in the last two years in the country.
Ninety districts in 11 states are considered as affected by such extremism, according to a 2019 government 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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