News & Politics
On April 2, more than 2000 security personnel began a “combined operation in Chattisgarh’s Bastar region. The operation that had been planned for weeks was intended to target Battalion No. 1 Area Commander Hidma, one of the most wanted Maoists who is known to be responsible for several attacks against security forces. On the way back from the operation, the next day, one of the groups of security forces were ambushed by around 600 Maoists, leaving 22 of them dead and several injured. In this episode, we spoke to Indian Express journalists Gargi Verma, Dipankar Ghose, and Deeptiman Tiwary about how this happened, who this Hidma is, and why Chhattisgarh continues to struggle with the menace of Maoism.