Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 17: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday launched a sharp attack on senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram over his remark that he was “proud to be a Dimagi Naxal”, claiming that the Maoist threat, which it alleged had remained unresolved during Congress-led UPA governments, was decisively brought under control under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi questioned the Congress' position on Left-Wing Extremism and contrasted Chidambaram's remarks with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 2006 assessment that Naxalism was the country's biggest internal security challenge.

“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.

Referring to Manmohan Singh's April 13, 2006 statement on Naxalism, Trivedi asked the Congress whether it agreed with the former Prime Minister's assessment or Chidambaram's latest remark.

The BJP leader claimed that Maoist influence had spread across several parts of the country during the UPA era, with more than 180 districts reportedly affected by Naxalism. He referred to the then-discussed “Red Corridor” stretching from “Pashupati to Tirupati” and cited the 2010 Dantewada attack in which more than 75 CRPF personnel were killed.

Trivedi also alleged that during Chidambaram's tenure in the Union government, more than 5,000 civilians were killed and 1,913 security personnel lost their lives in anti-Naxal operations.

“Today, those 180 Naxal-affected districts have come down to zero,” he claimed, asserting that the Modi government had decisively curbed the Maoist threat by March 31 this year.

He also highlighted development initiatives in areas previously affected by Left-Wing Extremism. According to Trivedi, more than 1,800 bank branches and 1,200 ATMs have been opened in such regions, while over 6,000 mobile towers have been installed to improve connectivity and access to services.

Trivedi further accused those questioning the government's achievements in tackling Maoism and developing affected regions of reflecting the mindset Prime Minister Modi had described as “Dimagi Naxal”.

“Anyone who finds this sight objectionable is a Dimagi Naxal,” he said.

The BJP's remarks came after Chidambaram took to social media to respond to Modi's Independence Day reference to “Dimagi Naxals”. The former Union Finance Minister said he was “proud to be a Dimagi Naxal”.

Chidambaram later described “Dimagi Naxals” as the latest addition to a series of labels allegedly used by the BJP against Opposition members, citing terms such as “urban naxals”, “andolanjeevis” and “tukde tukde gang”.