NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi on Monday joined the “Dimagi Naxal” debate and accused Prime Minister Modi of using such insulting labels to “silence and shame” those who seek accountability from the government. The Lok Sabha leader of the opposition used the Delhi building collapse incident to target the government and Prime Minister Modi and accuse them of lack of accountability.Prime Minister Modi had used the “Dimagi Naxal” phrase for the first time during his Independence Day address from the Red Fort on August 15.“We have succeeded in eliminating armed Naxals from the forests and liberating the nation from that crisis. However, while armed Naxals are gone, ‘dimagi’ (intellectual) Naxals are lurking around,” the Prime Minister had then said, referring to the successes achieved in the government’s fight against the Naxals.“These dimagi Naxals are looking for ways of violence and anarchy. They are resorting to various tactics to drag society to the wrong path. We must identify these dimagi Naxals, isolate them, and steer the nation’s youth toward the mainstream effort of transforming India into a developed nation. The challenge of ‘dimagi Naxals should not be underestimated’ as they used to have presence in “corridors of power”, even as advisers in govt committees,” PM Modi had said in his address.The Prime Minister’s remarks evoked strong reactions from the opposition leaders. Senior Congress leader and MP P Chidambaram called “Dimagi Naxals” the latest political “abuse” being used by the BJP against its opponents, describing it as a new variant of earlier labels such as “urban Naxals”, “Andolanjeevi” and “tukde tukde gang”. Chidambaram said that he was “proud to be a dimagi naxal”.Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal also claimed he was proud to be a ‘dimagi naxal’ as he was a ‘true patriot’ and did not fear the BJP. “According to PM Modi, those who dare to question are ‘damagi naxals’, who do not fear the BJP. If Bhagat Singh, BR Ambedkar were alive today, then they would also be termed ‘dimagi Naxal’ according to the prime minister,” Kejriwal had then said in a video message.However, the BJP leaders and the NDA allies put up a strong defence of PM Modi’s “Dimagi Naxal” attack and launched a broadside against the opposition leaders, especially the Congress.Union minister Kiren Rijiju later clarified that PM Modi’s remark was not targeted at political rivals but at those forces who try to belittle and diminish the idea of India by undermining the constitutional framework.In a post on X, Kiren Rijiju said: “PM Narendra Modi ji didn’t say Opposition leaders as Dimagi Naxals.” Union Minister went on to describe who all fall in the category of the remark.“Only following are ‘Dimagi Naxals’: those who support Maoists and reject Indian Constitution, those who stand with separatists and support Article 370 and those who want to cut chicken neck to separate North-East from India,” he asserted.But undeterred by the opposition pushback, PM Modi reiterated his attack last Saturday while addressing the centenary celebrations of Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and called his “Dimagi naxal” remark a “homoeopathic pill” for critics.“Homoeopathic treatment only aggravates the disease for a short time. As soon as I gave this pill, all the mental Naxals started coming out. But the public is seeing their true colours,” he said.In fact, the Prime Minister went on to extend his attack by using a new phrase, “naraz fufa”.Taking aim at opponents, PM Modi described two kinds of people in the country. One type positively transforms the power of society into the power of the nation. The other becomes a “Naraz Fufa” (angry uncle) on every issue.“Their only dialogue is: What is the need for this? When we were building the world’s largest statue, they said, what is the need for this? They said the same thing about bullet trains, UPI, chips, and the new Parliament. When we built a memorial for the army heroes who died for the country, the uncles came into the field again. But India gave a befitting reply to such uncles.”The Congress reacted sharply again and said PM Modi’s use of labels such as “naraaz phoopa” was part of his modus operandi of giving the opposition a new adjective every year to keep his own “failures” hidden.
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Narendra Modi ji, yesterday, you visited SRCC at Delhi University. It was an opportunity for dialogue on the country’s youth, education, and their future. But alas, instead of facing the youth’s questions, the speech turned into yet another political campaign.”“Modi ji’s Modus Operandi is to suppress questions in a democracy and give the opposition a new adjective every year so that his own failures remain hidden! Naraaz phoopa, Dimagi Naxal, Urban Naxal, Khan Market Gang, Andolan-jeevi, Parjeevi,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.Adjectives keep changing, but the Modi government’s “anti-people policies” do not change, Kharge said.Now, with Rahul Gandhi also joining the debate, it will be interesting to see how the BJP reacts to his attacks against PM Modi.
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