New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday described naxalism as the "biggest challenge" to India's democratic system and emphasised that the time had come for a "final assault" to eradicate it, media reports said.

He asserted that naxalism would be eliminated from the country by March 2026, he said at a press conference in Raipur.

"I believe that our fight has reached the end phase and by March 2026, we will be able to free the country completely from naxalism," Amit Shah was quoted as saying by India Today.

Shah made these remarks following meetings in Chhattisgarh, where he reviewed inter-state coordination, the Left Wing Extremism situation, and the security and development efforts in areas affected by such extremism.

“We believe that naxalism is the biggest challenge to the democratic system in our nation. In the last four decades, 17,000 people lost their lives because of naxalism. Since PM Modi-led BJP came to power at the Centre, we have accepted this as a challenge and tried to bring those who have weapons in the hands (naxalites) into the mainstream," Amit Shah said in Raipur.

He stated that the meeting in Chhattisgarh focused on mapping out strategies to address the issue, including ensuring 100 percent implementation of central and state government schemes in naxal-affected areas.

The discussions also covered the progress of infrastructure projects in these regions and ways to overcome the challenges encountered during their execution.

“Time has come to carry out the final assault along with ruthless politics to tackle Left Wing Extremism and naxalism," Amit Shah said.