NEW DELHI: A day after PM Narendra Modi called for identifying and isolating ‘dimagi naxals’, the Congress and the BJP engaged in a war of words on Sunday, with Congress leader P Chidambaram calling himself a proud ‘dimagi naxal’ and Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju denying that the PM intended the term to target Opposition leaders.
While addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day, the PM had said the country had succeeded in removing armed Naxalism from the forests but warned that the ‘dimagi naxals’ and its supporters were promoting violence and anarchy in the country.
Responding to the PM’s remark, former home minister Chidambaram posted, “I am a proud Dimagi Naxal”.
Dismissing the Opposition’s interpretation of the term “Dimagi Naxals”, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju denied that the Prime Minister had used the term to target Opposition leaders.
In a post on X, Rijiju termed Chidambaram’s statement “unfortunate”. “Very unfortunate & highly damaging statement by the respected former Home Minister of India. PM @narendramodi ji didn’t say opposition leaders are Dimagi Naxals”. Rijiju also clarified who had been referred to as “Dimagi Naxals”.
He said the Dimagi-naxals are those who “support Maoists and reject Indian Constitution, who stand with separatists and support Article 370 and who wants to cut chicken neck to separate Northeast from India”. It was a reference to student activist Sarjeel Imam, who is in judicial custody in connection with a case under the anti-terror UAPA law. Imam was arrested on August 25, 2020, and booked under the UAPA for being one of the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi that left 53 people dead.