Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Sunday defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on "dimagi Naxals", saying the term was not directed at Opposition leaders.
In a post on X, Rijiju said PM Modi had not referred to Opposition leaders as people with a Naxal mindset. He said "dimagi Naxals" referred to those who support Maoists and reject the Constitution, back separatists and support Article 370, and those who advocate cutting the Chicken's Neck corridor to separate the Northeast from the rest of India.
"PM @narendramodi ji didn't say opposition leaders as Dimagi Naxals," Rijiju said, listing the groups he claimed the term referred to.
Rijiju's remarks came a day after the Prime Minister, in his Independence Day address from the Red Fort, said India had succeeded in curbing "armed Naxalism" but warned that people with "Naxal thinking" were still seeking opportunities to promote violence and take the country in the wrong direction.
PM Modi said such "dimagi Naxals" needed to be "identified and isolated" so that India's youth could be brought together for the country's development.
"For years, people with Maoist thinking were there in public life, even in government committees this thinking had affected various institutions and initiatives," the PM said. He added that while the country had been freed from "hathiyari Naxal" or armed Naxalism, people with Naxal thinking were still looking for opportunities to promote violence.
Congress, however, criticised PM Modi's remarks and questioned the meaning of the term.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the reference to "dimagi Naxals" was similar to the earlier use of the term "urban Naxal", which he claimed had no defined meaning.
"Two or three years ago, he (PM Modi) called his political opponents 'Urban Naxals'; at that time, the question arose in Parliament as to what the definition of 'Urban Naxal' was," Ramesh said, according to ANI.
He alleged that the Home Minister had then said there was no such thing as an "Urban Naxal" and that there was no definition for the term.
Ramesh claimed Modi was now using "Mental Naxal" or ideological Naxal to refer to his political opponents.
He also alleged that the government had previously dismissed demands such as a caste census as "Urban Naxal" thinking before eventually accepting them.
"The reality is that he eventually accepts the issues and demands raised by the very people he labels as 'Urban Naxals'," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader further alleged that there was nothing new in PM Modi's political speech even after 12 years.
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