Inaugurating two projects with an estimated investment of Rs 24,000 crore in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh where Maoists hold sway, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the banned outfit to shun violence and support the government’s development efforts. Mr Modi said: “Violence cannot provide a solution to anything,” while addressing a meeting in Dantewada which the Maoists tried to disrupt by calling a “Bastar Mahabandh” and preventing villagers from attending.

“I appeal to the Maoists to spend a few days with those who have lost their dear ones to violence. Spend some time with the families destroyed by your (Maoists') violence and you will realize that you are on a wrong path,” the Prime Minister said. “I am sure that humanity exists in people who indulge in such activities and they will change.”

Just hours before Mr Modi spoke, 80 km away in Sukma district, the Maoists rounded up hundreds of people from four villages for supporting developmental work, defying their diktat. The ultras killed one villager and released the rest of them after 20 hours. Official sources in Delhi told The Hindu that the Maoists took only “five-seven people” hostage, but many villagers had followed them to negotiate the release. Mr. Modi said: “I have a strong belief that if Punjab can be free from terror and Naxalbari can be free from Maoism, then one day Bastar will be free from this dance of death. Chhattisgarh will be number one State if Maoism vanishes from the State.”