New Delhi: Maoist rebels holding out in the jungles of central India should surrender or face an "all-out" assault, the country's home minister said Friday.
More than 10,000 people have died in a decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement in India's resource-rich tribal heartlands.
The insurgency has drastically shrunk in recent years and a crackdown by security forces has killed at least 160 rebels in the first half of this year, according to government data.
"Many have joined the mainstream and you should too. Surrender! Lay down the weapons," home minister Amit Shah said after meeting a citizens' group from central Chhattisgarh state.
"But if not, we will launch an all-out campaign and get success," he said, adding that the government anticipated eradicating the Naxalite movement by early 2026.
The Naxalites, named for the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region's immense natural resources for local tribes, and made inroads in a number of remote communities across India's east and south.
The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the "Red Corridor".
India claimed to have confined the insurgency to about 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.
Authorities have pumped in millions of dollars for new investments in local infrastructure projects and social spending.
