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If forces succeed in the coming months, March 2026 may mark the first time in nearly six decades that India can claim to have broken the Maoist chain of command
With the government setting March 2026 as the deadline to wipe out insurgency, security forces now have six months to dismantle what remains of the Maoist command structure. (PTI)
India’s decades-long battle with Left-Wing Extremism is reaching its most decisive phase. After years of arrests and encounters, the once-formidable CPI (Maoist) leadership has been reduced to just 13 figures at the apex—four members of the Politburo and nine members of the Central Committee, the latest official updated data has revealed.
With the government setting March 2026 as the deadline to wipe out insurgency, security forces now have six months to dismantle what remains of the Maoist command structure. Some members of PLGA, the Guerrilla Army of Maoists, are still remaining and may try to escalate attacks. As per the latest dossier, Madvi Hidma, who reportedly heads PLGA and is the most-wanted, is not in touch with many top leaders.
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At its peak in the mid-2000s, the Maoist Politburo and Central Committee together numbered more than two dozen leaders, many of them feared across India’s forested heartland. They decided the ideology, approved strategy, and kept insurgent networks alive across at least 10 states. But over the past two decades, a combination of targeted intelligence operations, aggressive deployment of CoBRA and state police units, and a steady stream of arrests have eroded the leadership core.
In the last one decade, Naxalism has been shrinking every year.
Recent encounters in Chhattisgarh and Odisha eliminated several high-value leaders, including general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, Chalapati, and Modem Balakrishna. What remains is an aging leadership struggling to stay relevant, composed mostly of men in their late sixties and seventies.
If forces succeed in the coming months, March 2026 may mark the first time in nearly six decades that India can claim to have broken the Maoist chain of command. Yet, officials warn that the final stretch may also be the most dangerous as cornered leaders may attempt desperate attacks to assert relevance.
Politburo: The Brain
The Politburo (PB) is the Maoists’ highest decision-making body. It sets ideological direction, approves military and political strategy, and acts as the “brain” of the insurgency. Every major shift from expanding operations into new states to ordering high-profile attacks originates in the PB. With only four members still at large, its ability to provide clear national leadership has been badly compromised.
Once the most secretive and powerful body of the insurgency, the Politburo has been steadily decimated. Senior leaders such as Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad (killed in 2010), Kishanji alias Koteshwar Rao (killed in 2011), Kottam Sudarshan (died in 2023), Basavaraju alias Nambala Keshava Rao (neutralised in 2025), Chalapati, and Modem Balakrishna (both killed in 2025) are among those removed from the ranks through encounters, arrests, or natural causes. What remains today is a shrunken core of just four Politburo members: Muppala Laxman Rao alias Ganapati, the acting General Secretary; Misir Besra, a senior ideologue; Mallojula Venugopal alias Bhupathi, an influential strategist; and Malla Raji Reddy alias Sangram, who continues to direct activities in the Red Zone.
Central Committee: The Spinal Cord
The Central Committee (CC) serves as the wider leadership forum, linking PB directives to state and regional structures. It supervises state committees, allocates funds and weapons, manages propaganda, and keeps local squads aligned with the national vision. Just nine CC members remain active today.
The Maoist Central Committee, which once had nearly two dozen members, has been cut down to single digits after years of fight. Veterans like Sushil Roy (arrested in 2005), Pramod Mishra (arrested in 2008), Amitabh Bagchi (arrested in 2009), Baccha Prasad Singh and Bansi Dhar Singh (arrested in 2010), Jagdish Yadav (arrested in 2011), and Narayan Sanyal (detained earlier and later deceased) were among the first to be removed from the leadership chain. Others such as Kottam Sudarshan (died in 2023), Chalapati and Modem Balakrishna (both killed in 2025), and Basavaraju himself have also been neutralised in recent years. What remains is a smaller but still dangerous core of nine CC members, including Vivek Chandra, Ganesh Uikey, Deepak, Sudharsan, and Badri, who continue to provide tactical direction and connect the central command to surviving state committees.
Layers Below: State Committees and Cadres
Below the Politburo and Central Committee, the Maoists still maintain state committees and divisional bureaus in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Telangana. These mid-level bodies continue to direct armed squads—companies of 40 to 50 fighters, platoons of 25 to 30, and smaller dalams of 8 to 12—that carry out ambushes, extortion, and propaganda.
Estimates suggest around 800–1,000 armed cadres remain active, a steep decline from the 6,000 to 8,000 fighters a decade ago. Yet these formations remain dangerous, particularly in dense forests like Abujhmaad and Bastar, where geography favours the insurgents.
The Six-Month Race
With just 6 months to go before the March 2026 deadline, security agencies are under pressure to achieve two objectives simultaneously. First, they have to neutralise the 13 surviving top leaders, cutting off the head of the organisation. Second, they must break state committees and disband local cadres, ensuring no possibility of resurgence once the leadership is gone.
Officials stress that intelligence-driven operations will be key. “We are looking at pinpoint strikes guided by real-time inputs rather than broad sweeps. The idea is to eliminate the leadership quickly and then roll up the middle layer before March 2025,” a senior CRPF official told News18.
About the Author
With over 15 years of journalistic experience, Ankur Sharma, Associate Editor, specializes in internal security and is tasked with providing comprehensive coverage from the Ministry of Home Affairs, paramilitar…Read More
With over 15 years of journalistic experience, Ankur Sharma, Associate Editor, specializes in internal security and is tasked with providing comprehensive coverage from the Ministry of Home Affairs, paramilitar… Read More
September 29, 2025, 11:22 IST
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