New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack at senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Monday, over his remark that he was “proud to be a dimagi Naxal”, asserting that the Maoism problem, which the Congress-led UPA governments had failed to eradicate, was brought decisively under control under Narendra Modi government.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, BJP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi questioned the Congress party’s stand on ‘red terror’ and sought to draw a comparison between Chidambaram’s remarks and former Prime Minister late Manmohan Singh’s 2006 assessment that Naxalism represented the biggest internal security challenge faced by the country.
“PM Modi had raised an important topic of ‘Dimagi Naxal’ during his Independence Day address. However, we are shocked that within 24 hours of this, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said that he is proud of being a ‘Dimagi Naxal’,” Trivedi said.
“I want to remind the Congress party and P. Chidambaram that on April 13, 2006, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh said, ‘It would not be an exaggeration to say that the problem of Naxalism is the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country’. I want to ask the Congress, who was right, Dr Manmohan Singh or P. Chidambaram?” Trivedi questioned.
The BJP spokesperson further claimed that Maoist influence had spread extensively across several parts of the country during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA government, with a large number of districts being affected by Left-Wing Extremism.
“At that time, there was talk of a ‘Red Corridor’ stretching from ‘Pashupati to Tirupati’, and over 180 districts were reported to be affected by Naxalism. He also cited the 2010 Dantewada attack, in which more than 75 CRPF personnel lost their lives. Following this, the celebrations were held at a well-known university in the national capital; this is what ‘Dimagi Naxalism’ means,” Trivedi said.
Taking a direct swipe at the previous Congress-led governments, he asserted that the challenges associated with Maoism, which he claimed remained unresolved for years, had been substantially addressed by the current government.
“The problems which Congress governments failed to eliminate have been decisively brought under control by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he added.
The BJP MP also cited figures related to casualties and the spread of Maoism during the period when Chidambaram was associated with the Union government, seeking to highlight the scale of the challenge faced at the time.
“During Chidambaram’s tenure, more than 5,000 innocent citizens lost their lives, and 1,913 security personnel were martyred in anti-Naxal operations. A total of 180 districts were affected by Naxalism, and over 92 per cent of the weapons held by Naxals had been looted from the police. Today, those 180 Naxal-affected districts have come down to zero. However, even among those 180 districts, there was a sense of harmony in India, while problems were visible here,” he said.
Trivedi further claimed that Modi government has decisively curbed the Maoist threat by March 31, this year.
He also highlighted development and infrastructure initiatives undertaken in areas that were earlier affected by Left-Wing Extremism, saying that efforts were being made to integrate these regions with the country’s broader development process and the national mainstream.
He stated that more than 1,800 bank branches and 1,200 ATMs had been opened in the affected regions, while over 6,000 mobile towers had also been installed to improve connectivity and access to essential services.
Trivedi said that those who objected to the government’s achievements in combating Maoism and developing previously affected areas were themselves indicative of the mindset Prime Minister Modi had referred to as “Dimagi Naxal”.
“Anyone who finds this sight objectionable is a Dimagi Naxal,” Trivedi said.
This came as Chidambaram had taken to social media to hit back at the Prime Minister’s Independence Day remarks and had stated, “I am proud to be a Dimagi Naxal”.
Later, the former Union Finance Minister said the term “Dimagi Naxals” was the “new variant” to a series of accusations previously levelled by the BJP.
He listed earlier labels such as “urban naxals”, “andolanjeevis” and the “tukde tukde gang”, saying that all of them were directed primarily at members of the Opposition.
–IANS
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