NEW DELHI, November 8 (Aalimi Nation) – Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "dimagi Naxals" remark, made earlier in the day while celebrating Diwali with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district.
Speaking at a CRPF camp in Karanpur, Modi said armed Naxalites had been eliminated, "but the threat is not over yet". He said "dimagi Naxals", a term he used for ideological supporters of Naxalites, had taken control of several organisations and had infiltrated political parties and other groups.
"Even today, they are instigating people against the country's Constitution and democracy," he said, adding that "we must identify and defeat such elements and secure the country." He did not name any party or individual.
Modi also credited his government's policies and political will for the decline of Maoist violence. He said funding networks of Naxalites and separatists, counterfeit currency networks and supply lines had been dealt a major blow, and that security forces now had freedom to act, which he said earlier governments had not allowed. He said more than 230 districts across nearly 20 states had once been affected, and that no CRPF personnel were killed in the line of duty over the past year, the first time in 47 years. The government announced on March 31 that the country was free of Naxalism.
Ramesh responded on X, saying Modi "has not spared the nation even on Diwali day". He accused the Prime Minister of using a solemn, non-political occasion to attack political rivals while dressed in security-force uniform.
"This is a brazen assault on all institutional norms, but when has that ever stopped this man?" Ramesh said. He also described Modi as "clearly distraught, disturbed and desperate", and said "jhola-picking-up time is fast approaching".
Ramesh went on to cite earlier instances in which he said Modi had used similar labels:
On April 28, 2024, he said, Modi called those demanding a caste census "urban naxals". The government announced on April 30, 2025 that a caste census would form part of Census 2027.
In September 2020, Ramesh said, Modi described opponents of the farm laws as following a Naxal ideology. The laws were withdrawn on November 19, 2021.
Modi made a similar reference to "dimagi Naxals" in his Independence Day address in August. The "urban Naxal" label has long been a point of political dispute; during the 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly campaign, Modi accused the Congress of backing urban Naxals, which the Congress rejected.
There was no immediate response from the BJP or the government to Ramesh's criticism. Modi's remarks did not identify which organisations or parties he was referring to, and no evidence of infiltration was presented in the speech as reported. Aalimi Nation will update this report if the BJP or other parties respond.
