Story in Numbers: Constant decline in left-wing extremism in India

Although LWE incidents have reduced by 70% from 2,258 in 2009 to 665 in 2020, the biggest chunk of this decline was in regime of United Progressive Alliance

On September 28, 2021, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a tweet claimed the BJP government led by Narendra Modi  had dramatically brought down Left-wing extremism (LWE) violence through development. BJP’s Twitter post made the comparison between 2020 and 2009. The graphic in BJP’s tweet read, “India gets safer under Modi government.”
 
However, this claim is misleading. LWE cases saw a sudden rise in 2009 — 2,258 from 1,591 in 2008. And since then, cases have been steadily decreasing. This means that although LWE incidents have reduced by 70% from 2,258 in 2009 to 665 in 2020, the biggest