Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent Diwali on Sunday with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region, visiting the CoBRA Operations Base at Karanpur in a district once regarded as a stronghold of Maoist insurgency. It was the 13th consecutive year he has marked the festival with India's defence or security forces.

Addressing the personnel, Mr Modi said he had come to the forests of Bastar on behalf of 1.4 billion Indians to thank them for their sacrifices, dedication and spirit of service. "Every soldier is a part of my family," he told the troops, describing those who guard the country's borders and maintain internal security as the brave sons and daughters of Mother India.

The Prime Minister called Diwali 2026 truly historic, saying it was the first festival of lights since the country had won its decades-long struggle against Naxalism and Maoist terror, and the first on which every district was free from Naxalism. He credited the security forces for the achievement, saying millions of citizens had finally left behind the fear of Naxal violence.

Mr Modi also sounded a warning. While armed Naxalites had been wiped out from the forests, he said, the threat was not yet over: so-called "Dimagi Naxals" had taken control of several organisations and political parties and were inciting people against the country's Constitution and democracy. "We must identify them, defeat them and ensure the security of the nation," he said.

He stressed that strong internal security was essential for national strength, arguing that when internal security is robust, external adversaries cannot succeed. The CoBRA base at Karanpur served as a training centre and launchpad for counter-Naxal operations in Bastar and Abujhmad, areas once considered major Maoist strongholds. Last year Mr Modi spent Diwali aboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant off Goa, and his first Diwali as prime minister, in 2014, was spent with troops at Siachen.