RAIPUR, Feb. 23 -- Chhattisgarh governor Ramen Deka on Monday declared that the state is on the verge of eradicating Left Wing Extremism (LWE), citing a massive crackdown that saw over 5,300 insurgents neutralised, surrendered, or arrested in the last two years.

"When the shadow of terror recedes, the light of development spreads automatically, and people's lives are illuminated," Deka said in his customary address to the state assembly's first session of the year, underlining that the government's campaign against Maoist extremism had yielded major success.

Over the past two years, 2,004 Maoists were arrested, 532 killed in operations, and 2,704 surrendered - a shift the governor attributed to a rehabilitation policy designed to encour...