India, Nov. 19 -- "Hidma's terror has ended, peace is returning to Bastar," Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai wrote on social media on Tuesday and Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, said that the death of 50-year-old top Maoist commander marked "one of the most decisive breakthroughs in the history of anti-Naxal operations."

The two quotes not only highlighted the terror that Hidma, a central figure of the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) military structure, had on the psyche of residents in Bastar but also summed up the significance of his death on the morale of security forces.

Hidma was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. His wife, Madkam Raje, a long-servi...