Naxalism will be eliminated from India in 3 years: Rajnath
Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday said the menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) will be wiped out from the country in about three years. Addressing troops of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a special unit under CRPF, on the occasion of their 26th-anniversary celebrations, Singh said their action should be quick but never "reckless". He was speaking at a CRPF camp in Lucknow.
Naxal-hit districts have come down to 10-12 as against 126
Singh said districts affected by Naxal violence have come down to about 10-12 as compared to 126 some time back. "The day is not far, maybe in a time period of 1-2 or 3 years, that the LWE will be eliminated from the country and this would happen due to your (CRPF) determination, courage, and hard work," the 67-year-old former UP CM said.
CRPF has killed 131 Maoists, militants in 2018: Rajnath Singh
"I congratulate you on the kind of work you have done in the LWE theater of the country," Singh said, adding that CRPF has killed 131 Maoists and militants this year while it has apprehended 1,278 and has effected 58 surrenders during the same time. "Some youth there (J&K) have been misled into militancy, but this force has ensured security commendably," he said.
'Police should never do anything that will label them brutal'
Singh said, all the police forces are like civilized units and they should never do anything that will label them as "brutal". One should know how to behave during crowd control and should always know when to use force, he added. Singh's comments can be seen in the context of a recent incident in Lucknow where a policeman allegedly killed an Apple executive.
RAF battalion is equipped with non-lethal weapons
An RAF battalion has just over 1,000 personnel and is equipped with gadgets and non-lethal weapons like pump-action guns, tear smoke grenade launchers and others to enforce law and order in case of protests or riot-like situations. It's part of CRPF, country's largest paramilitary force.
RAF battalion was made fully operational in October 1992
The RAF was made fully operational in October 1992. It has ten battalions based in various parts of India to cut down response time to counter an incident of trouble. The ten existing RAF battalions are based in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Aligarh, Coimbatore, Jamshedpur, Bhopal, and Meerut. Five of its new bases are in Jaipur, Varanasi, Mangalore, Hajipur (Bihar), and Nuh (Haryana).
