NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah, while felicitating the CRPF and Chhattisgarh police personnel here on Wednesday on success of the May 2025 ‘Operation Black Forest’ against Maoists in Karreguttalu Hills on Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, said that the Narendra Modi government shall not rest until all Naxalites surrender, or are captured or eliminated.“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will make India Naxal-free,” Shah told personnel of the CRPF, CoBRA battalion, Chhattisgarh police and district reserve guard (DRG) who, in the largest-ever, 21-day, anti-Maoist operation neutralised 31 Naxalites and busted their supply chains and material dumps hidden in hundreds of caves running through Karreguttalu hills.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai and deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma were present at the event.Congratulating the security personnel for having destroyed the base camp of Naxalites and making ‘Operation Black Forest’ a success despite the extreme heat, altitude and IED threats at every step, Shah said their valour will be remembered as “a golden chapter in the history of the anti-Naxal operations”.Slamming the Maoists for causing great damage to the least developed areas of the country, shutting down schools, hospitals and not allowing government schemes to reach the people, Shah said the anti-Naxal operations in ‘core’ Maoist areas have brought a “new sunrise in the lives of 6.5 crore people from Pashupatinath to Tirupati”.The home minister reassured the security personnel that the Modi government is pulling all stops to ensure that the lives of security forces are smooth, particularly in the event of their having sustained serious physical injuries in anti-Naxal operations.“The Modi govt is committed to eliminating Naxalism from the country by March 31, 2026,” said Shah.