Red Reckonin g Part 5 Our five-part series examines the rise and decline of India’s Maoist insurgency, once described as the country’s “greatest internal security threat” and the uneasy transition from conflict to control in its last strongholds. From the Puvarti bridge to the Bastar Band, connectivity and culture are reshaping India’s last Maoist redoubt. For decades, Abujhmad (literally “the unknown hill”) was less a place than a void on India’s map. Sprawled across the den

While Dhurandhar 2 dramatises a fake-currency crackdown, the real 2016 shock may have struck far deeper — at the cash lifeline of India’s Maoist insurgency. In the 2026 blockbuster Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, director Aditya Dhar stages a sequence that has already become a cultural talking point. Using actual footage of the 2016 demonetisation announcement, the film depicts a Rs 60,000 crore fake-currency racket aimed at destabilising Indian elections, collapsing in a single n

Red Reckonin g Part 4 Our five-part series examines the rise and decline of India’s Maoist insurgency, once described as the country’s “greatest internal security threat” and the uneasy transition from conflict to control in its last strongholds. In the Naxal heartland of Bastar, the Indian state is no longer just clearing territory but opening accounts, extending credit and reclaiming everyday life. Once defined by gunfire and fear, the village of Anandapur in central Chha

Red Reckonin g Part 3 Our five-part series examines the rise and decline of India’s Maoist insurgency, once described as the country’s “greatest internal security threat” and the uneasy transition from conflict to control in its last strongholds. In the rugged terrain of Bastar, long defined in the national imagination by security bulletins and encounter reports, a significant transformation is underway. In Sukma district, one of the most acutely Naxal‑afflicted and logistica

Red Reckonin g Part 2 Our five-part series examines the rise and decline of India’s Maoist insurgency, once described as the country’s “greatest internal security threat” and the uneasy transition from conflict to control in its last strongholds. The dense, teak-filled forests of Gadchiroli have long been synonymous with the ‘Red Corridor’ - a landscape defined by minefields, ideological rigidity and the persistent hum of an insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives. For

Red Reckonin g Part 1 Our five-part series examines the rise and decline of India’s Maoist insurgency, once described as the country’s “greatest internal security threat” and the uneasy transition from conflict to control in its last strongholds. Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared in Parliament what would once have sounded improbable. The country, he said, was now “Naxal-free.” The Maoist insurgency has spanned nearly six decades, claimed thousands of lives an