Naxalism To End By March 2026, Says Amit Shah; Highlights Major Internal Security Gains

Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday assured the Rajya Sabha that Naxalism will be completely eradicated from India by 21 March 2026, as part of the government’s broader push to strengthen internal security.

During a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Shah laid out the government’s approach to tackling challenges including terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxal violence, drug trafficking, and unrest in the Northeast.

Amit Shah Vows To Eliminate Naxalism By March 2026

Shah stated, “I say it in this House with responsibility that Naxalism in this country will eliminated by 21 March 2026.”

Shah emphasized the government’s focus on providing precise intelligence support to security forces dealing with Naxal groups and criticized those who perceive the issue merely as a political problem.

“When Narendra Modi Government elected to power in 2014, we received several legacy issues from prior to 2014. Three main issues have consistently challenged the country’s security and development. These three issues caused obstruction to the peace of the country, raised questions on the security of the country and obstructed the development pace of the country for almost four decades; they also made the country’s entire system even laughable many a time,” he further noted.

The Home Minister asserted, “These three issues were terrorism in J-K, Leftist insurgency which dreamt of Tirupati to Pashupatinath and the Northeast insurgency. Clubbing all three issues together, violent incidents over four decades claimed the lives of around 92,000 citizens. No one ever made a well-planned effort to eliminate these three issues. PM Narendra Modi made those efforts after coming to power.”

Parliamentarians Share Views On MHA

Amit Shah emphasized that 21 members shared their perspectives on his ministry’s performance.

“In a way, efforts made to cover the dimensions of several works of MHA. First of all, I express my gratitude to thousands of State Police and central paramilitary force jawans who made the supreme sacrifice to strengthen the country’s internal security as well as borders,” he remarked.

Amit Shah noted that many criminal cases, including those related to narcotics and cybercrime, have multi-state dimensions.

“In a way, the Home Ministry works under very difficult situation. The Constitution has given the responsibility of Law and Order to states. Border security and internal security come under MHA. This is a correct decision. And there is no need to make any changes to this. But when Law and Order is taken care of by states, after 76 years, there is now a situation when several kinds of crime do not remain limited to state borders, they are both inter-state as well as multi-state – like narcotics, cybercrime, organized crime gangs, hawala,” the Home Minister added.

He further added, “All these crimes do not take place just within a state. People commit several crimes in the country while operating from outside its borders. So, keeping all this in view it becomes essential to make changes in MHA. I say this with pride that in 10 years, PM Narendra Modi made long overdue changes to the MHA at once to ensure national security.”

Shah Highlights Post-Article 370 Changes In Jammu & Kashmir

The Home Minister also spoke about developments in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370.

“After the removal of Article 370, the involvement of Indian youth with terrorists has almost disappeared. Ten years ago, terrorist glorification was common, and funeral processions would take place. But now, when terrorists are killed, they are buried on the spot. Relatives of terrorists who once enjoyed government perks, ruthlessly removed from government posts to send a strong message,” Amit Shah remarked.

“I want to thank our Constitution makers for making Article 370 temporary and providing a solution for its removal within the same article. However, vote bank politics kept it safeguarded. But on 5 August 2019, PM Modi took the historic step of removing it, marking the beginning of a new era of Kashmir’s integration with the rest of India,” he said.

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