5 min readAug 23, 2026 07:09 AM IST
First published on: Aug 23, 2026 at 06:50 AM IST
Am I a ‘dimagi Naxal’? Ever since the Prime Minister identified this new genre of traitor in his Red Fort speech, I have brooded over this question. In simple English, this new kind of traitor is an intellectual with leftist tendencies who takes inspiration from the teachings of Chairman Mao. So, as someone who is possibly the most economically right-wing, politically conservative columnist in our vast and wondrous land, why should I of all people worry? Well, because the definition of ‘dimagi Naxal’ is treacherously ambiguous and could encompass even those who despise Mao and totally oppose violent uprisings against the Indian State.
On this, my credentials are impeccable. I openly opposed the late Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at a time when you could be killed for doing so. And, never at any stage of my long career in journalism have I had the smallest sympathy for the Naxalites. Not even in the seventies when many young people of my acquaintance were not just in sympathy with this movement but had given up college to march with the comrades in the jungles. In those days it was fashionable to be extremely leftist and unfashionable to be mildly rightist, either politically or economically.
Memories come back as I write these words of conversations in dingy, smoke-filled ‘barsatis’ where over cheap rum and cheaper cigarettes we talked of how only a revolution could save India. I joined in these conversations and drank the rum but was never persuaded. When I became older and wiser and learned to analyse economic and political ideas, I became convinced that it was decades of ‘socialism’ that kept millions of Indians mired in poverty. It is simply not possible to distribute wealth without first creating it. In this column I have said more than once that I believe India would have been among the richest countries in the world if we had adopted the principles of free markets and liberal democracy.
Instead, we chose to emulate the Soviet Union, and this has meant that millions of Indians continue to live on government handouts and the dream of a government job. Those aged lefties who still believe Mao and Stalin are heroes pretend that they have not noticed that it was only after the leaders of Russia and China started following free market economic policies that their people began to enjoy a measure of prosperity.
With ideas that are so far from being leftist, why do I fear that I might end up in the ‘dimagi Naxal’ category? Well, because I oppose many of the policies that the Modi government has chosen to follow. I agree with the Cockroach Janta Party’s campaign to improve village schools. And I agree with Abhishek Dipke when he says that it is only when political leaders and high officials are forced to send their children to government schools that these schools will improve dramatically. When I see the ‘cockroaches’ fan out across villages to make reels of the horrific conditions in government schools, I see them as nationalists and patriots and not subversives. Could this put me in the ‘dimagi Naxal’ category?
Since the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech, there has been an explosion of public support for him from his devotees and spokespersons on television. In one show, I heard these acolytes explain that Modi was talking about intellectuals who were really Naxal collaborators. But these worthies have not noticed the reels that the BJP’s propagandists are posting on social media in which they illustrate the definition of the new traitors with photos of Modi’s political opponents.
If you believe in liberal democracy, as I do, you necessarily believe that dissent is the oxygen that allows democracy to breathe and remain healthy. Sadly, this is not an idea that has been much cherished since Modi became prime minister. The opposite is true. Every effort has been made to silence dissenting voices and crush dissidents. The methods used are to unleash the most powerful investigative agencies on those who speak against the government. Journalists whose job it is to speak out against the things they see wrong are often treated as anti-nationals who should lose their rights as citizens. When the Jantar Mantar protests were at their peak, did you notice that many of Modi’s more passionate devotees demanded that the cockroaches should have their passports confiscated?
Every time I see dissidents attacked and dissidence crushed, it makes me realise that India is no longer the liberal democracy that it once was. Of course, leaders of yore did their own damage to liberal democratic values, as Indira Gandhi did when she declared the Emergency. But she did that so openly that defiance was much easier. In the past twelve years, the elimination of dissent and dissenters has been more insidious and more dangerous. The first time I saw that invisible pall of fear lift was when the Cockroach Janta Party began to mock Modi in their reels and in their speeches.
As I was writing this piece, I noticed on Instagram that some Modi devotees had set up a makeshift temple, in which stood a cardboard cutout of Modi dressed as Lord Rama.
His devotees were reciting what they called the ‘Modi chalisa’ and, with lighted diyas, were praying to the cardboard deity. This sickened and shamed me. Does that make me a ‘dimagi Naxal?’
If you believe in liberal democracy, as I do, you necessarily believe that dissent is the oxygen that allows democracy to breathe and remain healthy. Sadly, this is not an idea that has been much cherished since Modi became prime minister. The opposite is true. 
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