Dantewada Cricket Event and India’s “Post-Maoist” Claim
At Dantewada in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region long associated with Maoist violence, a village ground turned into an unlikely site of celebration on April 22. Sachin Tendulkar, the cricket legend, spent the afternoon playing games with Adivasi children, joining a tug-of-war, and interacting with them on the field — a scene that drew crowds and briefly transformed the mood in a region shaped by years of conflict.
For many of the children, it was a rare, almost unreal encounter: a figure they had known only through television and textbooks now among them, playing and talking with easy familiarity. The moment, marked by laughter and applause, offered a glimpse of a Bastar that officials say is moving forward. The authorities proclaim Maoist insurgency to be effectively over, marking a turning point in a conflict that has spanned nearly six decades.
Describing Sachin Tendulkar as the "god of cricket", Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said his visit to Bastar would inspire the local youth. "Through sustained efforts of the government, Bastar is emerging from the shadow of naxalism and moving forward on a new path of development, trust and opportunity," Sai wrote on X on April 22.
Tendulkar's foundation, working with the Mann Deshi Foundation, has supported sports infrastructure in the region. The effort has since expanded into a district-led "Maidan Cup" initiative to build 50 playgrounds across Dantewada. "At least 5,000 children will benefit from these efforts," Tendulkar said at Maa Danteswari Airport in Jagdalpur on April 22.
Earlier in April, the Union Home Ministry said that following a security review on April 8 no district in India was any longer officially classified as affected by naxal violence. It was a "historic achievement", the Ministry said.
Amit Shah told Parliament in March that the country had become free of Maoist influence. Districts once considered strongholds, including Bijapur and West Singhbhum, had been removed from the list of places affected by left-wing extremism, and 37 districts were reclassified for monitoring and development. (These 37 districts are spread across nine States: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, and West Bengal. The monitoring is meant to prevent resurgence of Maoist activities.)
Uneven ground reality
The picture on the ground, however, remains uneven. On April 13, security forces killed a Maoist cadre identified as Rupi in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. Police said she was part of the group's local leadership and carried a bounty of Rs.5 lakh. Her killing came less than two weeks after the government's March 31 deadline to end the insurgency.
Videos circulating on social media showed large crowds at her funeral in Telangana, with some attendees seen dancing to songs associated with Maoist leaders.
In a separate incident in mid-April, police in Pune registered a case against two students and others over a cultural performance allegedly glorifying Maoist figures at a government-run hostel.
Security officials say such incidents do not signal a revival of armed activity but acknowledge that ideological and cultural remnants can persist. Violence linked to left-wing extremism has declined sharply in recent years, according to government data. Nearly 400 cadres surrendered in the Bastar region in the first four months of 2026. There were some senior members among those who laid down arms in recent weeks. The insurgency has also been weakened by leadership losses.
Tendulkar joining children in a game of tug-of-war during the Maidan Cup initiative at Chhindnar on April 22. | Photo Credit: PTI
Anti-naxal operations, however, continue in pockets. On April 17, four Maoists, including Shahdev Mahto, a regional committee member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), who carried a reward of Rs.15 lakh, and Ranjit Ganjhu, a zonal committee member who carried a reward of Rs.10 lakh, were killed in a joint operation along the Jharkhand border. Days earlier, at least six security personnel were injured in a gunfight in the Saranda forests of West Singhbhum.
More than 3,000 commandos have been deployed in a coordinated operation targeting Misir Besra, also known as Bhaskar or Sagar, a senior CPI (Maoist) politburo member and among India's most wanted naxal leaders with a Rs.1 crore bounty. A government official said on April 6 that joint teams were deployed in the search: "It will be a matter of days or weeks before he is caught or neutralised," the official said. As of April 23, 2026, security forces were hunting him in Jharkhand's Saranda forest.
Former Maoist leaders have increasingly urged others to surrender. Papa Rao, a former insurgent from Bijapur, has publicly appealed to cadres to return to civilian life, citing the hardships of prolonged conflict.
Roots and unresolved questions
The Maoist movement traces its origins to a 1967 peasant uprising in Naxalbari in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, led by Charu Majumdar. Inspired by Maoist ideology, it sought to mobilise landless peasants through armed struggle, rejecting parliamentary democracy. It later spread across forested regions of central and eastern India, consolidating under leaders including Muppala Lakshmana Rao. At its peak between 2005 and 2013, Maoist violence resulted in hundreds of deaths annually and was described as the country's most serious internal security threat.
Analysts attribute its decline to sustained security operations, improved infrastructure, welfare schemes, and fragmentation within Maoist ranks. Yet some experts caution that underlying issues, including land rights, forest governance and displacement, remain unresolved. "The armed conflict in central India may have reduced in terms of violence, but its social and political context has not entirely disappeared," said a researcher who studies left-wing extremism, declining to be named.
In Dantewada, Tendulkar's visit has come to symbolise change. At the Paneda ground, children gathered early, eager to meet the cricket star — for many, the region's violent past is something they have only heard about. For the authorities, such moments reflect a return to normalcy. Whether that normalcy is fully realised, or still in transition remains an open question.
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