2 weeks ago

'Dimagi Naxal' remark shows Modi running out of enemies

'Dimagi Naxal' remark shows Modi running out of enemies
Modi is now the establishment, not an outsider. And he is running out of enemies to name · theprint.in

Every year on India's Independence Day, the Prime Minister gives a big speech from an old fort called the Red Fort.

This year, PM Narendra Modi used a new word in his speech: 'Dimagi Naxal.'

Naxals are a group the government considers dangerous, so the phrase means someone with dangerous thoughts.

Modi said people with these thoughts want to trick the country and its young people, and they should be found and kept away.

But he did not explain exactly who counts as a 'Dimagi Naxal,' and many people are confused.

Leaders from his own party used the word for people who missed the ceremony, while a minister described it as people who want to split the country.

The article's writer thinks the word is unfair and could make people afraid to ask questions.

She says India is proud of its smart people and new ideas, but this word makes thinking itself look suspicious.

Many young Indians are upset about leaked exam papers and jobs that never came.

The writer believes Modi can no longer blame outsiders easily and now faces hard questions from the generation he built.

Key facts

Speaker
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Occasion
80th Independence Day speech at the Red Fort
New term
Dimagi Naxal (mental Naxal)
Modi's call
Identify and isolate those carrying Naxalite ideology who seek to mislead the country and its youth
BJP spokesperson's use
Linked Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge's absence from the ceremony to a 'Dimagi Naxal ecosystem' mindset
BJP minister's description
Maoist sympathiser, constitutional subversive, separatist wanting Article 370 restored or the Northeast severed
Historical vocabulary
Nehru (scientific temper), Shastri (Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan), Vajpayee (Jai Vigyan), Manmohan Singh (knowledge economy)
Author
Shruti Vyas, journalist based in New Delhi

Quotes

Article writer

Opining author of the analysis

“At the first sentence of the headline, the article comments that Modi has become the establishment and is running out of enemies to name.”
theprint.in

Sources

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