Mahendra Karma was an Indian political leader belonging to Indian National Congress from Chhattisgarh. He was the leader of the opposition in the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha from 2004 to 2008. In 2005, he played a top role in organising the Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites, a Maoist group in Chhattisgarh. He was a Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Ajit Jogi cabinet since the state formation in 2000 to 2004. He was assassinated by Naxalites on 25 May 2013 in the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley while returning from a Parivartan Rally meeting organised by his party in Sukma.
Dantewada District, also known as Dantewara District or Dakshin Bastar District, is a district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Dantewada is the district headquarters. The district is part of Bastar Division. Until 1998, Dantewada District was a tehsil of the larger Bastar District.
Salwa Judum was a militia that was mobilised and deployed as part of counterinsurgency operations in Chhattisgarh, India, aimed at countering Naxalite activities in the region. The militia, consisting of local tribal youth, received support and training from the Chhattisgarh state government. It was outlawed and banned by a Supreme Court court order but continues to exist in the form of armed auxiliary forces, District Reserve Groups, and other vigilante groups.
This is a timeline of the 1967–present Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in eastern India.
Operation Green Hunt is the name used by the Indian media to describe the "all-out offensive by paramilitary forces and the states forces" against the Naxalites. The operation is believed to have begun in November 2009 along five states in the "Red Corridor."
The April 2010 Dantewada Maoist attack was an 6 April 2010 ambush by Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) near Chintalnar village in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh, India, leading to the killing of 76 CRPF policemen and 8 Maoists — the deadliest attack by the Maoists on Indian security forces.
Greyhounds is a police special forces unit of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Police departments in India. Greyhounds specialises in counter-insurgency operations against Naxalite and Maoist terrorists.
The 2010 Dantewada bus bombing occurred on 17 May 2010 when a bus hit a landmine 50 km away from Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. Fatalities reports range from 31 to 44, including several Special Police Officers (SPOs) and civilians.
The Chhattisgarh Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Chhattisgarh in India. The agency is administered by the Department of Home Affairs of the Government of Chhattisgarh. The force has specialized units to fight the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in some districts of the state.
Soni Sori is an Adivasi school teacher turned political leader of Aam Aadmi Party in Sameli village of Dantewada in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh, India. She was arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch for Chhattisgarh Police in 2011 on charges of acting as a conduit for Maoists. During her imprisonment, she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh state police. By April 2013, the Indian Courts had acquitted her in six of the eight cases filed against her due to lack of evidence. After release from prison, Sori began campaigning for the rights of those caught up in the conflict between Maoist insurgents and the government, in particular criticising police violence against tribespeople in the region.
On 25 May 2013, Naxalite insurgents of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) attacked a convoy of Indian National Congress leaders in the Jhiram Ghati, Darbha Valley in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, India. The attack caused at least 27 deaths, including that of former state minister Mahendra Karma and Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel. Vidya Charan Shukla, a senior Congress leader, succumbed to his injuries on 11 June 2013.
Abujhmarh is a hilly forest area, spread over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi) in Chhattisgarh, covering Narayanpur district, Bijapur district and Dantewada district. It is home to indigenous tribes of India, including Gond, Muria, Abujhmarhia, Madiya, and Halba. It was only in 2009 that the Government of Chhattisgarh lifted the restriction on the entry of common people in the area imposed in the early 1980s. Geographically isolated and largely inaccessible, the area continues to show no physical presence of the civil administration, and is also known as "liberated-zone" as it is an alleged hub of Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its military wing, People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), who run a parallel government in the area.
The 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election was held to elect members to the Legislative Assembly of the Indian State of Chhattisgarh. The election was held in two phases for a total of 90 seats; the first for 18 seats in South Chhattisgarh was held on 12 November 2018, and the second for the remaining 72 were held on 20 November.
The Sukma attack was an ambush carried out by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) against Indian paramilitary forces on 24 April 2017, during the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. It was the largest ambush since a similar attack in 2010, in the neighbouring district of Dantewada.
The Bastariya Battalion, also known as "Battalion 241," is a unit of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), based in Chhattisgarh. The unit is tasked with curbing Naxalist activities in Chhattisgarh state. The battalion is named "Bastariya" because the force is composed of locals — both male and female — from Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, and Narayanpur — some of the most Maoist-affected districts in Bastar Division, Chhattisgarh.
Vivekanand Sinha is the Inspector General of Police of the Durg range of Chhattisgarh. He has previously served as the Inspector General of Police of Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. He has been an IPS since 1996. He was appointed as the head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the investigation of Jhiram Valley Attack by government of Chhattisgarh on 2 January 2019. The Jhiram Valley Attack was a naxal attack which killed top Congress leaders of Chhattisgarh in 2013 during a political rally in Darbha. The new SIT has been formed by the newly elected Congress government of Chhattisgarh to probe into it He has also served as the DIG of Special Protection Group which looks after the security of the Prime Minister of India. During his tenure as IG in Bilaspur, Sinha walked on coal barefoot to convince the locals that there is no magic in walking on coal. This was done to strengthen the human rights of women who were being harassed or boycotted after being labelled as witches.
Bhima Mandavi was a Bharatiya Janata Party politician and member of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly from Dantewada assembly constituency.
Madvi Hidma is the youngest member of the Central Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist). Hidma is allegedly responsible for various attacks on the security forces in Chhattisgarh, and the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley. A bounty has been placed for his capture.
The 2021 Sukma-Bijapur attack was an ambush carried out by the Naxalite-Maoist militants from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) against Indian security forces on 3 April 2021 at Sukma-Bijapur border near Jonaguda village which falls under Jagargunda police station area in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, the ensuing gunfight lead to the killing of 22 security personnel as well as 20 Naxalites. The death toll was the worst for Indian security forces fighting the Naxalites since 2017.
Bastar: The Naxal Story is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language political thriller film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It stars Adah Sharma, Indira Tiwari, Vijay Krishna, Shilpa Shukla, Yashpal Sharma, Subrat Dutta and Raima Sen.
