At least 44 Maoist buildings were destroyed by CRPF personnel in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Sunday, the force said in a statement. A team of 800 CRPF members, spread across 18 teams along with state police, used earth bulldozers to demolish 44 Maoist monuments in a bid to erase all memory of left-wing extremism from the country. Brick by brick, we will destroy the idea and its manifestations in every form,” CRPF chief JP Singh said in a statement on X, while sharing videos of high-rise Maoist buildings topped by drillers in Gadchiroli.
Gadchiroli, which was on the list of districts worst affected by LWE violence, was removed from the list last year.
Separately in Chhattisgarh, over the past two weeks, troops have destroyed nearly 100 such structures across Bastar district in areas that were once a red corridor and Maoist stronghold. The purging and symbolic destruction of Maoist structures has now become part of the government’s aggressive move to eliminate every symbol of Maoism. Ahead of the Centre’s deadline to eliminate Naxalism from the country by March 31, 2026, and with only 4 CPI(M) Central Committee members remaining and only 150-200 cadres, the forces are clearing every Maoist structure.
On 30 May 2025, Hizb ut-Tahrir reported that during a review meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked all Central Armed Police forces operating in Bastar district to destroy such memorials and remove all traces of Naxalism from areas liberated by forces that were under Naxalite control. Following this, forces began removing such buildings, and the pace of removal intensified in the run-up to the government’s deadline.
The memorials, which are usually 5 feet to 60 feet tall structures, have been erected by Naxalites in their camps across LWE-affected states, which were not liberated from the Maoists. The names of their fallen comrades are engraved on these memorials. Drills, morning parades and oath-taking ceremonies during orientation were conducted outside these memorials when they were under Maoist control.
