Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday (August 17, 2026) fired a fresh salvo at the Congress over its MP P.
Chidambaram’s swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “Dimagi Naxal” remark, saying the party must apologise to the family of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had said the Maoist problem was the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by India.
On Sunday (August 16, 2026), Mr.
Rijiju reacted to Chidambaram’s “I am proud to be a Dimagi Naxal” remark, which followed after Mr. Modi, in his Independence Day speech, said, “we have succeeded in getting rid of armed Naxals, but ‘Dimagi Naxals’ (intellectual Naxals) are looking for opportunities to create violence, unrest…”
The Prime Minister’s remark riled the opposition leaders, who decried it as an attempt to stigmatise dissent and target those who question the government.
Speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Mr. Mr. “The Congress must apologise and say sorry to the family of Dr. “Very unfortunate and highly damaging statement by a respected former Home Minister of India. PM Narendra Modi ji didn’t say that opposition leaders are ‘Dimagi Naxals’.”
Rijiju on Monday (August 17, 2026) said that Manmohan Singh had highlighted the Maoist problem as the Prime Minister in 2006. On Sunday (August 16, 2026), Rijiju said that by ‘Dimagi Naxals’, Prime Minister Modi did not refer to the opposition leaders but only to those who support Maoists and separatists and reject the Indian Constitution.
Modi said the country had succeeded in removing “armed Naxalism” from the forests but warned that its ideological supporters were seeking opportunities to promote violence and anarchy. Manmohan Singh ji,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said in a post on X.
