Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at the CoBRA Operations Base at Karanpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district on Sunday, celebrating Diwali alongside counter-insurgency commandos and declaring that India has crushed Maoist terror after a five-decade conflict.
Surrounded by elite jungle warfare personnel, Modi framed the milestone as a decisive turning point for national security. The Karanpur outpost long served as the primary staging hub and tactical launchpad for deep combat strikes across the forested tracts of Bastar and the Abujhmad ridge. For decades, those dense hills formed the core command zone of the armed Maoist insurgency. The turnaround was hard-won. Modi credited the boots on the ground for breaking insurgent networks across central India and wresting back state control.
"After 40 to 50 years, a Diwali like this has come," Modi told the gathered units inside the base. "This is the first Diwali when the nation has won its decades-long war against Naxalism and Maoist terror. This is the first Diwali when every district of the country is free from Naxalism. This is the first Diwali when crores of countrymen have overcome the fear of Naxalism."
The declaration reflects years of relentless security operations across former rebel redoubts. Modi bypassed standard ceremonial events in New Delhi to spend the festival on the tactical frontline, telling personnel that those guarding the borders and the hinterland remain his direct family. While millions travel home for the festival of lights, Modi noted that security deployments in remote combat zones provide the shield that makes those civilian reunions possible.
"This is an incredible accomplishment, and a substantial amount of recognition should be attributed to you," Modi said, paying tribute to the casualties and endurance of the units. With the security perimeter secured, state agencies now plan to accelerate long-delayed civil administration, road networks, and development projects across forested pockets that spent decades cut off by armed conflict.