Under the name ‘Operation Kagar’ the Indian government has declared an civil war with the aim of eliminating Maoists. Wherever he goes Home Minister Amit Shah has been announcing Indian government’s objective to completely eradicate Maoists from the Dandakaranya forests of Chhattisgarh by March 31, 2026.

Thousands of police and paramilitary forces are deployed against Maoists and the Adivasis of Chhattisgarh. The number of camps established by paramilitary forces in Chhattisgarh is increasing day by day. On average, 15 camps are established annually in the forest region, at a rate of one camp every five kilometers. In 2024 alone, government forces have established 30 camps. There are 182 government force camps in Bastar alone. Furthermore, 612 police stations have been established in areas declared by the government as ‘recovering Naxal-affected villages’.

The Indian paramilitary forces stationed in Chhattisgarh are monitoring their own citizens using highly advanced drones such as Netra 3 and Bharat. These forces deploy these advanced drones before launching attacks. Israeli-made unmanned Heron aerial vehicles, which were used during the genocide in Gaza, are positioned at an altitude of 35,000 feet above the tribal people residing in Bastar. These unmanned aircrafts record phone and wireless communications taking place in the forest region and transmit them to the paramilitary forces.

The number of Maoists shot and killed by government forces in the past three years is shocking. In 2023, the figure was 23; in 2024, it was 235; and in the first three months of 2025 alone, 140 Maoists have been killed. These massacres by Indian government forces are linked to reward bounty. A reward of up to ₹25 lakhs is being given for each human life killed.

Several draconian laws are kept ready to brand activists who expose the atrocities and transgressions of government forces as Maoists. Thus, through militarization—with sophisticated weapons, drones, and thousands of police and paramilitary forces—a final war is being waged against our own people, against the indigenous tribal communities.

The secret buried within this war mongering is this: rare mineral resources lie hidden in the forests and mountains of Dandakaranya. The annual mineral production of Chhattisgarh is valued at approximately ₹30,000 crore. Chhattisgarh is a mineral-rich state, accounting for one-third of the country’s iron and tin production; one-fourth of its steel and cement production; one-fifth of its coal reserves; and 15% of the nation’s total mineral revenue.

Chhattisgarh is rich in minerals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, and titanium, which are essential raw materials for future technologies like advanced electronics, security equipment, and telecommunications. The state’s Chief Minister, Vishnu Deo Sai, states that Chhattisgarh’s mineral revenue has increased 30-fold since the year 2000. In the fiscal year 2023-24 alone, the state earned ₹13,000 crore in mineral revenue.

The union and state governments have entered into agreements with multinational corporations and comprador capitalists to lay bare these resources to them while driving out the tribal people out from this region. In June 2024, the state government allotted a tender for lithium extraction in the Katghora area of Chhattisgarh to a mining company called Maiki South Mining. However, Maoists and tribal communities stand as a fortress, preventing multinational companies and Indian comprador class from freely plundering this treasure.

When the Congress government was in power in the union , the then Congress government of Chhattisgarh and the mercenary group Salwa Judum jointly conducted ‘Operation Green Hunt’; subsequently, operations like ‘Samadhan-Prahar’ were carried out to evict the indigenous tribal communities from their land. Despite various offensives launched by the Indian government so far, the indigenous tribal people belonging to states like Chhattisgarh and Odisha continue to stand firm and fight on the ground.

Indigenous people are staging protests in various locations against every upcoming project in this region, including Adani’s Dantewada iron ore projects in Chhattisgarh, Birla’s bauxite mine in Odisha’s Rayagada, L&T’s Utkal Alumina, the bauxite mine in Odisha’s Niyamgiri, and the iron ore mine in Jajpur. They refuse to leave their ancestral lands and are fiercely driving away these voracious corporations.

Since BJP came to power, it has been aggressively implementing the plans of corporate entities. Across India, from Ladakh to the Thoothukudi Sterlite, people are rising up against the corporate exploitation that is seizing their land.

Because the tribal people in the forest areas of Chhattisgarh have been fighting against the exploitation of monstrous companies for a long time, these companies have been unable to establish a foothold in the region for over a decade. The ruling class is well aware that corporate agendas can only be implemented by targeting and destroying the Naxalbari movement, which stands at the forefront of the people’s struggle against corporate exploitation. Operation Kagar is a direct consequence of this understanding. This is not the usual oppression of the ruling class.

The Indian government’s civil war, Operation Kagar, has been launched with the aim of completely annihilating Maoists and tribal communities.

While the Congress government’s Operation Green Hunt drove approximately 50,000 tribal people from Bastar to Warangal, the Modi-Amit Shah clique’s Operation Kagar has been initiated to completely oppress the tribal people and aggressively implement corporate exploitation in the region.

Through Operation Kagar, not only Maoists but also anyone in the Bastar region who protests against the union government’s corporate projects are being labeled as Maoists. A stark example of this is the Chhattisgarh state government’s ban on the Moolnivasi Bachao Manch, a tribal people’s organization that protests democratically. Furthermore, its founders have been branded as Maoists and arrested by the NIA.

In May 2021, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel occupied approximately 10 acres of agricultural land in the Silger forest area of southern Chhattisgarh to establish a camp. Around 20,000 tribal people protested against this move. During the protest, CRPF personnel opened fire, killing three tribal individuals and a pregnant woman. Local tribal people protested by refusing to claim the deceased’s bodies. This protest was led by 20-year-old tribal youths from the area. It was during this struggle that the Moolnivasi Bachao Manch, a tribal people’s protection forum, was formed. Since its inception, this organization has been democratically protesting against the establishment of paramilitary force camps , aerial attacks, fake encounter killings, and the arrests of tribal people in the Fifth Schedule areas where tribal communities reside.

The organization had been conducting indefinite sit-in protests for over two years in Silger, Nambi Dhara, Mukhram, Korna, and several other places, opposing the opening of new government forces’ camps without the consent of the local village council. Last October, the Chhattisgarh state government declared this organization a banned entity. The government’s stated reason for this action was that the organization was consistently opposing the development works and initiatives undertaken by the union and state governments in Maoist-affected areas. Furthermore, the government claimed that by opposing the establishment of camps for government forces, the organization was obstructing the government’s development plans and inciting the public against the government, thereby justifying it’s ban.

Not only has the government banned the democratic organization established by the tribal people living in the Fifth Schedule area to peacefully protest against the government to protect their rights, as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, but its founders have also been arrested. Sunitha Pottam was arrested by the Bijapur police in June of last year, and this February, the organization’s other founder, Raghu Midayami, was arrested by the NIA, accused of having connections with Maoist organizations.

The tribal people of Chhattisgarh cannot in effect exercise the freedom of speech and democratic rights, guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, to gather and hold protests or demonstrations. The Fifth Schedule rights, constitutionally provided to tribal communities, exist only on paper. The Indian government demands silent acceptance of the ongoing war waged for corporate plunder. Otherwise, every tribal person is labeled a Maoist!

The Union government, citing concerns that the continued growth of left-wing extremism in India’s natural resource-rich areas will impact corporate investment, is severely oppressing not only Maoists but also the indigenous inhabitants of these regions, branding them as Maoists. If tribal people protest against the exploitation by corporate entities, they are labeled as Maoists and crushed. Therefore, Operation Kagar, under the guise of a war against Maoists, is in reality a civil war waged against the tribal population.

The pace of this civil war is not solely determined by the political objective of the Modi-Amit Shah administration to eliminate Maoists by March 31, 2026. Rather, the Indian government is driving the tribal population out at an accelerated pace to facilitate corporate agenda to ruthlessly exploit Dandakaranya and reap immense profits. To this end, thousands of government troops are being deployed, and militarization is being intensified. Despite calls for peace talks from Maoist organizations and various social activists, aimed at preventing the continued oppression of the tribal people, the Union government remains unresponsive.

Corporate fascism is intensifying in Chhattisgarh. All electoral parties are conspicuously silent and united in their indifference. The rights of the tribal people and natural resources are of no importance to them; their conflicts arise solely from the division of profits derived from corporate plunder.

The people of that region alone cannot defeat Operation Kagar, the internal war being waged for the exorbitant profits of corporate entities. Rather, just as the government and corporations have joined forces to oppress the masses, victory can be achieved only when workers, farmers, youth, students, democratic forces, and progressive forces cease their isolated struggles to unite in a common fight.

• Senkanal