Naxalism drops to eight districts: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said in the past four years, Naxalism has come down to eight districts and the militancy in the North-East decreased by 80 per cent.

Even on Wednesday, the top commander of LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) Naveed Jatt was killed in Kashmir, he said.

"In last four years, Naxalism came down from 90 to eight-nine districts," the Home Minister said in this Himachal Pradesh town, some 140 km from the state capital.

Singh said the militancy in the North-East has decreased by 80-85 per cent. "In Kashmir, in the last three-four days, our forces killed 18-19 terrorists. Even today (Wednesday) our forces killed the commander of LeT Naveed Jatt."

He was here on a day's visit to preside over the meeting of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Panna Pramukh meeting of the Mandi parliamentary constituency.

Prominent party leaders like Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J.P. Nadda, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, state party President Satpal Singh Satti, and former Chief Ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar, among others, participated.

(With inputs from agencies.)