Sending a strong message to red rebels, chief minister Raman Singh on Wednesday unfurled the tricolour at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, a Maoist heartland, to mark the 62nd Republic Day.
Mr Singh, sources said, chose to ignore the alert by intelligence agencies on a possible major Naxal attack in the region during Republic Day celebrations and decided to hoist the national flag at the famous Lalbaug Ground at Jagdalpur in restive Bastar district.
The chief minister also deputed his Cabinet colleagues to lead the celebrations at headquarters of four other districts — Bijapur, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Kanker — in Bastar region on the occasion to demonstrate his government’s determination to overcome the challenge posed by Maoists, who have been controlling major part of 40,000-sq km Bastar region for the past three decades.
No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in Bastar division during the period in spite of the call given by the ultras to boycott the Republic Day events, reports reaching the police headquarters here said. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the chief minister said, “A decisive war against the Maoists has already begun in Chhattisgarh.”