In the wake of the deadly Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday cancelled his poll campaign in Assam and is returning to New Delhi to take stock of the situation.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who is co-incharge of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Assam Assembly elections, confirmed the development in this regard stating the Home Minister is “returning after addressing one out of three rallies he was supposed to address”.
“Union Home Minister Amit Shah has cut short his poll campaign in Assam and is returning to Delhi in view of the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh. He is returning after addressing one out of the three rallies he was supposed to address,” ANI quoted Singh as saying.
READ: Sukma Bijapur Naxal Attack: 22 Jawans Martyred, 1 Missing In Ambush Against Maoists In Chhattisgarh
The Home Minister earlier in the day offered his tributes to the jawans martyred in the Naxal attack and said the “nation will never forget their valour”.
“I bow to the sacrifices of our brave security personnel martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. Nation will never forget their valour. My condolences are with their families. We will continue our fight against these enemies of peace & progress. May injured recover soon,” he tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I bow to the sacrifices of our brave security personnel martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. Nation will never forget their valour. My condolences are with their families. We will continue our fight against these enemies of peace & progress. May injured recover soon.</p>— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/india/west-bengal-bankura-ic-ashok-mishra-arrested-by-enforcement-directorate-in-connection-with-coal-smuggling-scam-1451489">April 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed anguish at the killing of the security personnel while battling the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh and condoled the loss of lives of the brave hearts.
“The killing of the security personnel while battling Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh is a matter of deep anguish. My condolences to the bereaved families. The nation shares their pain and will never forget this sacrifice,” the President of India’s office tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The killing of the security personnel while battling Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh is a matter of deep anguish. My condolences to the bereaved families. The nation shares their pain and will never forget this sacrifice.</p>— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) <a >April 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Expressing similar sentiments, Prime Minister Modi said the “sacrifices of the brave martyrs will never be forgotten”.
“My thoughts are with the families of those martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. The sacrifices of the brave martyrs will never be forgotten. May the injured recover at the earliest,” he tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My thoughts are with the families of those martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. The sacrifices of the brave martyrs will never be forgotten. May the injured recover at the earliest.</p>— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a >April 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This comes as at least 22 security personnel lost their lives following an encounter with the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district.
The security forces have launched an operation along the Sukma-Bijapur border, where an intense face-off led to the sacrifice of 22 soldiers and left 32 others injured. The search is still on for one jawan missing post the Maoist ambush in the forests of the restive Bijapur district in the tribal Bastar region.
The attack today took place nearly a week after the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel took three Naxals into custody for planting explosives to target security forces in Sukma.