Modi Bastar Diwali refers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Diwali 2026 visit to Bastar in Chhattisgarh, where he lit lamps with security personnel and local residents in a region the government says has largely shaken off decades of Naxal violence. The visit comes as the Centre pushes its self-imposed deadline to end Left-wing extremism in India by March 2026.
Key Takeaways
- PM Modi marked Diwali 2026 in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, calling it the first festival since the state’s “decades-long battle against Naxalism” turned decisively in the government’s favour.
- Bastar division, once the nerve centre of Maoist insurgency, has seen a sharp fall in violent incidents and a wave of cadre surrenders through 2025.
- The Centre has set March 31, 2026, as its target date to formally declare Naxalism eliminated from India.
- PM Modi also extended Diwali greetings to the nation and spent time with jawans, continuing a tradition of marking the festival alongside security forces.
Why did PM Modi choose Bastar for Diwali this year?
Bastar was not a random stop. For close to four decades, this forested stretch of southern Chhattisgarh was the beating heart of India‘s Maoist insurgency — a place where state administration struggled to reach, and where security convoys moved under constant threat of ambush.
That the Modi Bastar Diwali visit happened at all, with the Prime Minister moving freely among villagers and troops, is itself being read as a statement. Officials travelling with the PM’s team described it as a deliberate choice to mark the festival in a district that symbolised everything the government wanted to prove had changed.
A festival with a message
Diwali, the festival of lights, has traditionally been used by Indian prime ministers to send a message of unity — lighting lamps at the border with soldiers, or visiting flood or disaster-hit regions. This year, Bastar became that stage. The optics were simple: a Prime Minister standing in a once-no-go zone, sharing sweets with jawans and tribal families on the darkest night of the Hindu calendar turned into the brightest.
What did PM Modi say about Naxalism in Bastar?
Speaking during the visit, PM Modi described it as the first Diwali since India “won” its decades-long fight against Naxalism in the region, according to reports from The Week and other outlets covering the trip. He credited security forces, local police, and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) — a Chhattisgarh Police unit largely drawn from surrendered Maoists and local tribal youth — for turning the tide.
He also used the occasion to thank jawans posted in remote forward areas, a gesture he has repeated in past years at border outposts during Diwali, and reiterated the government’s commitment to development projects in Bastar now that security operations have eased.
How bad was the Naxal problem in Bastar, really?
To understand why this Modi Bastar Diwali moment matters, it helps to look at how entrenched the insurgency once was. Bastar division — covering districts like Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Kanker — was for years the stronghold of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), with the dense Abujhmad forest acting as a near-impenetrable base.
| Period | Situation in Bastar |
| 1990s–2000s | Maoist influence spreads across Bastar; large areas effectively outside state control |
| 2010 | Major ambushes, including large CRPF casualties, mark the insurgency’s peak intensity |
| 2019–2023 | Steady expansion of security camps and road networks into interior areas |
| 2024–2025 | Intensified anti-Naxal operations; senior Maoist leaders killed or surrendered |
| 2026 | Centre targets formal elimination of Naxalism; PM Modi visits Bastar for Diwali |
One operation that drew nationwide attention came in 2025, when security forces killed Nambala Keshava Rao, better known as Basavaraju, the top leader of the CPI (Maoist), in the Abujhmad forests of Chhattisgarh. For a movement that had survived multiple governments and strategies, losing its general secretary in an encounter was widely seen as a turning point. You can read a fuller history of the insurgency on Wikipedia’s overview of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, which traces the movement from its 1967 origins to its recent decline.
What is the government’s deadline for ending Naxalism?
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has repeatedly said the Centre aims to eliminate Left-wing extremism from India by March 31, 2026. That target has shaped the tempo of operations through 2025, with a visible shift from purely military action toward a mix of surrender policies, cash incentives for cadres laying down arms, and road and mobile-tower expansion into previously inaccessible pockets.
Bastar, more than any other district cluster, has been the test case for this approach. A PM Modi Bastar Diwali visit timed just months before that deadline is, in effect, a preview of how the government wants this chapter closed — not with a quiet press release, but with the Prime Minister personally walking through the region.
An original angle: what changes on the ground for ordinary Bastar residents?
Here’s the part that often gets lost in the politics of it: for families in villages like those around Sukma or Bijapur, the practical difference shows up less in speeches and more in daily life. Weekly markets that used to shut by late afternoon out of fear now stay open into the evening. School enrolment in some blocks has risen as security camps near villages have reduced, locals say, the sense of being caught between two armed sides.
It’s a slow, uneven kind of normal — mobile network bars appearing on phones for the first time, new road stretches cutting travel time to district headquarters from a full day to a few hours. None of this erases the decades of displacement and loss the conflict caused, but it’s the texture behind the headline, the part that explains why a Diwali visit to Bastar carries weight beyond the photo-op.
Did PM Modi celebrate Diwali with soldiers elsewhere too?
Yes. Alongside the Bastar leg, PM Modi’s Diwali 2026 schedule included time with jawans, continuing a practice several recent prime ministers have followed of spending part of the festival with troops rather than only in Delhi. Past years have seen similar visits to border posts in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and the northeastern states. This year, Bastar effectively became that symbolic post — an internal frontier rather than an international one.
- PM Modi lit diyas and interacted with security personnel stationed in Bastar.
- He addressed troops on the sacrifices made during anti-Naxal operations over the decades.
- Local tribal residents and panchayat representatives were part of the gathering.
- The visit was positioned as both a festival greeting and a security milestone marker.
Modi Bastar Diwali FAQ
Why is PM Modi’s Bastar Diwali visit significant?
It’s significant because Bastar was, for decades, the symbolic and operational core of India’s Maoist insurgency. A Prime Minister marking Diwali there, rather than issuing a statement from Delhi, is being read as a public marker of the government’s claimed success against Naxalism.
Has Naxalism actually ended in Chhattisgarh?
Not entirely, but incidents have dropped sharply and several senior Maoist leaders have been killed or have surrendered through 2025. The government’s own target to declare it eliminated is March 31, 2026, so officials themselves describe this as the final phase, not a finished one.
What is the District Reserve Guard (DRG)?
The DRG is a specialised Chhattisgarh Police force made up largely of local tribal youth and surrendered Maoist cadres, trained for jungle warfare. It has played a central role in recent anti-Naxal operations in Bastar.
Did PM Modi mention any new projects for Bastar?
Reports from the visit indicate he reiterated commitments to infrastructure and development work in the region, framed as the next phase once security operations wind down, though specific new project announcements were not detailed in initial coverage.
Where exactly is Bastar located?
Bastar is a division in southern Chhattisgarh comprising several districts, including Bastar, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker and Narayanpur, bordering Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.
The Modi Bastar Diwali visit captures a region mid-transition — not fully past its violent history, but visibly different from the Bastar of even five years ago. Whether the March 2026 deadline is met to the letter or not, the symbolism of this particular Diwali will likely outlast the news cycle.