NEW DELHI: For the first time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke at length about what he called “Maoist terrorism,” asserting that his government has nearly eradicated the decades-old insurgency that once spanned over a hundred districts across India. Addressing an event in Delhi, Modi said the issue was not merely about national security but also about “the future of India’s youth”.

He accused the previous Congress governments of shielding “urban Naxals” who, he claimed, had built an ecosystem that censored discussion of Maoist violence.

“During the Congress government, an entire ecosystem of urban Naxals had taken root—people so deeply entrenched in institutions that they ensured news of Maoist terror rarely reached the public,” he said, alleging that such groups “controlled

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