CJP Slams PM Modi Over ‘Dimagi Naxal’ Remark

New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party chief spokesperson Saurav Das on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his reference to "dimagi Naxals" in his Independence Day address, and said educated young people cannot be branded "Naxalis" merely for questioning the government.

In his address from the Red Fort on the country's 80th Independence Day, Prime Minister Modi said while the menace of armed Naxalism was nearing its end, there were people with a "dimagi Naxal" mindset who were looking for opportunities to create violence and unrest and take the country in the wrong direction.

The prime minister said such people needed to be identified and isolated, and that the youth needed to be brought into the mainstream.

"Dimagi Naxal or whatever is not going to work, prime minister. How could you loosely brand educated young people 'Naxalis' etc? Just because they question your government? Sheer arrogance! Sheer incompetence at resolving their problems?" Das said in a post on X.

"Bells are ringing. The awakening is here!" he said.

In a separate Independence Day message, Das said perhaps after 12 long years, the country was celebrating Independence Day "in its truest sense" as "something within us has finally broken free: The fear."

He said a generation told to remain silent had found its voice and medium, while a generation told nothing would change had begun to believe again.

"An era of awakening has begun. An era of peaceful protest has begun," Das said, adding that people would gradually "weed out" the "old, the corrupt, the incompetent and the arrogant".

Das said "a Jantar Mantar is being born in every district of this country", where those who felt hopeless would find hope in one another and those who felt powerless would discover the power of standing together.

He also accused those in power of trying to divide Gen-Z and the young by saying, "Your Gen-Z vs Our Gen- Z."

"Because they know what history holds: There is nothing more powerful than a people who refuse to be divided!" Das said. "They will divide. We will unite. They will spread fear. We will spread courage. The mind is without fear now. And there is no going back," he said.