PM Modi to Celebrate Diwali With Security Forces in Bastar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is travelling to Bastar in Chhattisgarh on Diwali to celebrate the festival with security personnel deployed in anti-Naxal operations in the region.

“Heading to Bastar to celebrate Diwali with our brave security forces,” PM Modi said in a post on X. “This is an area where Naxalism once held sway, and now, development is flourishing. I am going to salute our brave security personnel for their sacrifices, selfless service and unwavering devotion to the nation.”

“A ZERO THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES”

The visit comes as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) marks 12 consecutive months without an operational fatality. The last one was on October 30, 2025.

CRPF Director General GP Singh credited the latest equipment, better training, strategic planning and a focus on post-incident response, including fast evacuation of the injured to advanced medical facilities.

“It’s specially significant since this has happened while we continue to be deployed and engage intensely in all the major operational theatres achieving significant breakthrough results,” he said.

PM Modi welcomed the milestone in a short post: “A ZERO that speaks volumes.”

BASTAR, ACCORDING TO THE GOVERNMENT

Naxalism long held back development in Bastar, and the CRPF has been in the lead in countering it. Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared Bastar Naxal-free in Jagdalpur in May, saying the government’s target of ending Naxalism by March 31, 2026 had been met.

The Home Ministry had set up about 200 security camps in the region, and Shah announced that 70 of them would be turned into service centres, called the Veer Shaheed Gundadhur Seva Dera, to take government services to local people.

With peace being consolidated, the government says development in education, healthcare, roads, electricity, communication, tourism and employment will gain fresh momentum.

Shah says the policy is clear: those who give up violence and surrender can rejoin mainstream society, while the forces act against those who break the law and endanger innocent citizens. Many people have surrendered during the campaign, the government says.

A DIWALI TRADITION

PM Modi has spent Diwali with the armed forces every year since he became Prime Minister, starting with Siachen in 2014. Last year he celebrated aboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in the Arabian Sea, and said more than 100 districts were celebrating Diwali free from the grip of Maoism for the first time.

With inputs from ANI