Lessons from fighting Maoists for 14 years from Bastar’s top cop

Sundarraj was first posted to Bastar in 2005 as a young officer, when the Salwa Judum movement had just begun, with local tribals being armed to fight Maoists who were often from their own communities.

Across four stints spanning 14 years, he witnessed the deaths of hundreds of security personnel, many of whom he had never met personally.

“Bastar changed me in many ways. I have attended numerous final rites of our martyrs over the years, and each one remains deeply painful. There is no formula for dealing with such moments. Perhaps the most significant change was learning to regulate my emotions. Whether it was the loss of a colleague or a difficult operational setback, I learned to remain composed because hundreds of officers and jawans looked to their leadership for confidence and direction. I also developed a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices made by police personnel and their families,” he recalls.

Another lesson, he says, was learning to live with uncertainty.

“The greatest learning was accepting uncertainty. In Bastar, no day was predictable. The phone could ring at any hour of the day or night with information about an encounter, an IED blast, a surrender, or a civilian incident. Sometimes, it brought encouraging news, and sometimes heartbreaking news. I learned that leadership demands emotional balance irrespective of circumstances. One has to remain calm, take objective decisions, and continue moving forward despite the emotional highs and lows that come with such responsibility.”

Even holidays, he says, were never truly holidays: “I, as well as personnel from our forces, spent our holidays fulfilling family commitments before returning to duty.”

Sundarraj’s tenure as Bastar IGP from 2019 until the Union government’s March 26 deadline to eradicate LWE witnessed some of the biggest anti-Maoist operations in the region. By 2019, Bastar had entered a decisive phase, with an expanded security presence and a growing network of camps steadily shrinking Maoist influence.

Though reluctant to count his victories, Sundarraj says the killing of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju in May 2025 marked a significant turning point, along with the neutralisation of several members of the Maoists’ Central Committee.

He says he ensured that security forces did not celebrate such operations. “We consciously discouraged celebrations after successful operations because our objective was never revenge,” he says.

‘Greatest pain’

Asked about his biggest regret, Sundarraj says it is the loss of security personnel over the years.

“The greatest pain remains the lives we lost during operations and thinking about their grieving families. While we continuously learned from every setback and refined our methods, the loss of even a single jawan remains something that weighs heavily on the conscience of every commander,” he says.

On how he coped with the emotional toll of losing personnel, Sundarraj says his upbringing helped shape his outlook.

“I come from a farming family where life itself was demanding and challenging. There are years of abundant harvest and years of loss, despite putting in the same hard work. Farming teaches humility, resilience, and the ability to accept outcomes that are beyond one’s control. Those lessons stayed with me throughout my service,” he says.

As he prepares to leave Bastar, Sundarraj says preserving the gains made over the years will require collective effort.

“Lasting peace and sustainable development can only be achieved if we all work together to protect this hard-earned stability,” he says.

He also has a message for surrendered Maoists: “Choosing peace requires courage. Surrender is not the end of a journey but the beginning of a new one.”