On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of PLGA - a wing of banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist), Central Committee of CPI Maoist released a souvenir in media on Wednesday claiming that during the eight-month of Maoist elimination programme of Operation Samadhan and Prahar launched by the Indian security forces, they have lost 53 armed men in 36 encounters, while 73 Naxals have been killed.
Spokesperson of CPI Maoist Abhay claimed that their organisation also lost 20 of their fighters in 15 fake encounters carried out by the security forces. Despite these losses, their organisation is continuously growing.
According to the Dandakaranya Special Zone Military Commission report, 90 policemen were killed, and 259 policemen were injured while fighting with security forces, Abhay alleged.
He also alleged that on the instructions of Home Minister Amit Shah and Hindutva forces, continuous attacks were made to destroy the strength of the CPI Maoist, but the organisation survived.
Reacting to the statement issued by CPI Maoists, IG Bastar (Range) Sundarraj P said, the figure of Maoists killed in the encounters might be more, but as far as the numbers of security forces lost their lives in the Maoist attacks and encounters in Chhattisgarh is concerned is very much less then what they quoted. We suffered 42 casualties only.
As far as Bastar is concerned, we have successfully established 44 camps in the last two years in inaccessible areas of Bastar and the area of Maoists influence continuously shrank.
The Maoists statements also indicate that they have continuously weakened and lost their stronghold in the ground due to the presence of security forces, which is itself an achievement in the context of establishing peace, prosperity and rule of law, the IG said.
