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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Gadchiroli SP declares Maoist menace ‘almost over’

Mumbai: In a resounding statement signalling a historic shift, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal has declared the district, once the dark heart of the ‘Red Corridor,’ is on the verge of becoming completely free of the Naxal menace. The SP expressed absolute confidence in the complete eradication of the banned CPI (Maoist) presence, noting that the remaining cadres have dwindled to a mere handful. “There has been a sea change in the situation,” SP Neelotpal stated,...

Gadchiroli SP declares Maoist menace ‘almost over’

Mumbai: In a resounding statement signalling a historic shift, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal has declared the district, once the dark heart of the ‘Red Corridor,’ is on the verge of becoming completely free of the Naxal menace. The SP expressed absolute confidence in the complete eradication of the banned CPI (Maoist) presence, noting that the remaining cadres have dwindled to a mere handful. “There has been a sea change in the situation,” SP Neelotpal stated, highlighting the dramatic turnaround. He revealed that from approximately 100 Maoist cadres on record in January 2024, the number has plummeted to barely 10 individuals whose movements are now confined to a very small pocket of the Bhamragad sub-division in South Gadchiroli, near the Chhattisgarh border. “North Gadchiroli is now free of Maoism. The Maoists have to surrender and join the mainstream or face police action... there is no other option.” The SP attributes this success to a meticulously executed multi-pronged strategy encompassing intensified anti-Maoist operations, a robust Civic Action Programme, and the effective utilisation of Maharashtra’s attractive surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy. The Gadchiroli Police, especially the elite C-60 commandos, have achieved significant operational milestones. In the last three years alone, they have neutralised 43 hardcore Maoists and achieved a 100 per cent success rate in operations without police casualties for nearly five years. SP Neelotpal highlighted that the security forces have aggressively moved to close the “security vacuum,” which was once an estimated 3,000 square kilometres of unpoliced territory used by Maoists for training and transit. The establishment of eight new police camps/Forward Operating Bases (FoBs) since January 2023, including in the remote Abujhmad foothills, has been crucial in securing these areas permanently. Winning Hearts, Minds The Civic Action Programme has been deemed a “game changer” by the SP. Through schemes like ‘Police Dadalora Khidaki’ and ‘Project Udaan’, the police have transformed remote outposts into service delivery centres, providing essential government services and employment opportunities. This sustained outreach has successfully countered Maoist propaganda and, most critically, resulted in zero Maoist recruitment from Gadchiroli for the last few years. Surrender Wave The state’s progressive rehabilitation policy has seen a massive influx of surrenders. “One sentiment is common among all the surrendered cadres: that the movement has ended, it has lost public support, and without public support, no movement can sustain,” the SP noted. The surrender of key figures, notably that of Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias ‘Bhupathi,’ a CPI (Maoist) Politburo member, and his wife Sangeeta, was a “landmark development” that triggered a surrender wave. Since June 2024, over 126 Maoists have surrendered. The rehabilitation program offers land, housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and employment. Surrendered cadres are receiving skill training and are successfully transitioning into normal life, with around 70 already employed in the local Lloyds plant. A District Reborn The transformation of Gadchiroli is now moving beyond security concerns. With the decline of extremism, the district is rapidly moving towards development and normalcy. The implementation of development schemes, round-the-clock electricity, water supply, mobile towers, and new infrastructure like roads and bridges is being given top priority. He concludes that the police’s focus is now shifting from an anti-Maoist offensive to routine law-and-order policing, addressing new challenges like industrialisation, theft, and traffic management. With the Maoist movement in “complete disarray” and major strongholds like the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) Special Zone collapsing, the SP is highly optimistic. Gadchiroli is not just getting rid of the Naxal menace; it is embracing its future as a developing, peaceful district, well on track to meet the central government’s goal of eradicating Naxalism by March 31, 2026.

The Barons of Solapur

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When the Mohite-Patil father-son duo, Vijaysinh and Ranjitsinh and quit the BJP to return to the NCP (SP) this year, it worried the saffron party. A similar concern was felt in the undivided NCP circles when the powerful duo had left the party for a stint in the BJP in 2019. Such is the influence of the Mohite-Patil family—they control land swathes of land and runs factories and a large educational empire in Akluj.


Switching parties isn’t new for members of the family have moved across various major parties in Maharashtra. If Vijaysinh and his son Ranjitsinh have swiftly changed loyalties from the NCP to the BJP and back, his nephew Dhavalsinh was a former Shiv Sena member who moved to the Congress.


Brothers Pratapsinh and Vijaysinh entered politics in the 1980s albeit in different parties. Vijaysinh began his career as the sarpanch of Akluj and then represented Malshiras in the state assembly between 1980 and 2009. In 2003, he was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and has served as a cabinet minister for public works, tourism and rural development for several years. During his time in the assembly, Vijaysinh carried ahead his father’s legacy and established sugar factories, dairies, poultry farms, schools colleges, nursing and engineering colleges and poultry farms, bringing economic development and employment to the area. Known to be very close to Sharad Pawar, Vijaysinh won the Lok Sabha elections from Madha near Solapur in 2009. His son Ranjitsinh is a former member of the legislative council who followed his father to the BJP but returned to the NCP (SP).


Under his brother’s guidance, Pratapsinh took his first steps in politics as a member of the Youth Congress in 1985 but was nominated to the Vidhan Parishad in 1997 as a BJP member with help from Gopinath Munde. He was sworn in as the Minister for Cooperation in the Shiv Sena-led government in the late 1990s and then subsequently was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha.


Vijaysinh’s nephew Dhairyasheel quit the BJP on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections to join NCP (SP) when the BJP denied him a ticket. He was warmly welcomed into the party and although he had never contested the assembly or parliamentary elections earlier, he won by a good margin. Another nephew who is Viyasinh’s political rival for supremacy in the area is Dhavalsinh, who has been with the Shiv Sena and then moved to the Congress in 2021. To counter his cousin who was contesting from Madha, he lent support to the BJP candidate.

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