Bastar (Chhattisgarh): Hundreds of villages in Chhattisgarh's Bastar division, which once lived under the threat of Naxal terror, have begun to witness winds of change in recent years.
For years, the Naxals have boycotted Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations in the interior villages of Chhattisgarh and used to hoist black flags instead.
In recent years, however, normalcy has slowly begun to return to these interior areas, with the locals braving the Naxal threat to hoist the tricolour.
Villages where the tricolour was hoisted for the first time in recent years:
- 2016: The tricolour fluttered for the first time on August 15, 2016 at Gompad in Sukma district.
- 2017: The national flag was hoisted for the first time on Independence Day at Chandameta, Mundagarh in Bastar district.
- 2019: The tricolour was hoisted for the first time in Pahurnar, Chindanar border, Palmadugu, Gogunda, and Metamarka villages. The CRPF's 206 Cobra Battalion hoisted the national flag along with the villagers.
- 2019: A 100-feet-high flag was hoisted at the new CRPF camp in Konta on June 13, 2019.
- 2020: The tricolour was hoisted in 12 villages of Bastar on January 26, 2020. The national flag fluttered for the first time in Kademeta (Narayanpur), Bodli (Bastar), Kunna-Dabba (Sukma), and Duta (Kanker). Meanwhile, the tricolour was hoisted for the first time after 20 years in Dantewada's Potali village.
- 2020: Independence Day was celebrated for the first time in Kushalpada village, about eight kilometres away from Chintagufa, along with Marjoom, Chikpal, and Parcheli villages.
Read: Tricolour flutters in Chhattisgarh's Naxal area after 20 years
