India, April 5 -- While the nation heaved a sigh of relief on March 30 when the Union Home Minister Amit Shah proclaimed in the Lok Sabha that "Naxalism has been more or less wiped out from Bastar" the security forces continued to scour the forests in Left Wing Extremism-affected States for the remaining Maoists who chose to cling to their path of violence. The following day, 35 Maoists surrendered in five districts of Chhattisgarh, prompting the Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sahai to declare that the state was free of Naxalism. Nine others crossed over to Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) and surrendered before the police there. A significant achievement to gloat over. 

The relentless pursuit of Maoists by the commandos of the elite Cobra Batta...