New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will mark Diwali in Bastar on Sunday, alongside security personnel deployed in the Chhattisgarh district. He announced the visit himself on X in the morning.
"Heading to Bastar to celebrate Diwali with our brave security forces. This is an area where Naxalism once held sway and now, development is flourishing," Modi wrote. In the Hindi post that followed, he said that a region where "Naxalites once spread terror" now shows "a flourish of development". The assessment is his. No separate government report on the district's security status accompanied the announcement.
Of the personnel he is going to meet, Modi said: "I am going to salute our brave security personnel for their sacrifices, selfless service and unwavering devotion to the nation."
Bastar is familiar ground for the Prime Minister on Diwali. He has spent the festival with troops in this belt before. What is different this time is the framing — the announcement presents the Naxal question in the region as settled, with development as the story now.
State BJP leaders welcomed the visit, calling it a signal of the government's confidence that it can hold a festival with the forces in the district.
Security in the Bastar belt has been stepped up ahead of the visit. Festival days bring heavier civilian movement and crowds at markets and temples, and the deployment is being read as a precaution rather than a response to any specific input.
Earlier in the day, Modi, President Droupadi Murmu and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi extended Diwali greetings. Murmu's message recalled Ram's return to Ayodhya and the rows of lamps lit to welcome him, which she described as the cultural and devotional basis of the festival.
Temples across the country saw steady queues from early morning. In Delhi, police said arrangements had been strengthened across 15 districts, with attention on markets, shopping complexes, places of worship, metro stations and bus terminals. "All district police units have been asked to remain on high alert and maintain strict vigil, particularly in crowded areas and sensitive locations," a senior officer said.
The Prime Minister's schedule in Bastar has not been made public. His arrival time and the locations he will visit were not disclosed in the announcement.