New Delhi: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the phrase “dimagi Naxals” in his Independence Day address, a satirical Instagram page has emerged as an unlikely internet sensation, attracting more than 600,000 followers within days of its launch.
Calling itself the Dimagi Naxal Party, the page @dimaginaxalpartyy_india, along with its website, has turned the Prime Minister’s phrase into a satirical online movement, echoing the trajectory of the earlier Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The phrase that inspired it came from PM Modi’s August 15 address from the Red Fort, where he said India had succeeded in defeating armed Naxalism but that people with a “Naxal mentality” were still around. “We have been successful in weeding out Naxals with weapons. But those with Naxal mentality are still around. We have to find and isolate these dimagi Naxals,” PM Modi said.
Modi linked Naxalism and Maoism to violence and argued that those who continued to harbour such an ideology could threaten India’s development and influence young people.
The remark quickly became a political flashpoint.
Opposition leaders accused PM Modi of “using labels to discredit dissent and political opponents”. Congress leader P Chidambaram said he was “proud to be a dimagi Naxal”, while other Opposition figures, including AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and TMC’s Mahua Moitra, also responded to the remark.
The Opposition argued that terms such as “urban Naxal”, “Andolanjeevi” and “tukde tukde gang” had previously been used in political discourse to portray critics as threats to the country, and warned that such labelling could have a chilling effect on dissent.
The government, however, rejected the interpretation that Modi’s remark was directed at Opposition leaders.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the term referred to people who support Maoists, reject the Constitution, back separatism or advocate positions such as separating the Northeast from the rest of India.
That competing interpretation of the phrase has provided fertile ground for India’s internet culture, where political satire, memes and parody movements have increasingly become vehicles for expressing political frustration.
From cockroaches to ‘dimagi Naxals’
The phenomenon echoes the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began as an online joke after remarks by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant were initially understood as a reference to unemployed youth. Abhijeet Dipke’s response to the remarks helped spark the creation of the satirical CJP. CJI Surya Kant later denied that his comments were directed at unemployed youth. The movement subsequently grew into a youth-led campaign focused on unemployment, education and examination-related concerns.
The new Dimagi Naxal Party appears to borrow some of that internet-native political language.
Its website describes the project as a “civic, satirical, youth-oriented editorial movement” centred on free thought, peaceful democratic dissent, evidence-based discussion and constitutional rights.
The identity of the person or group behind the new project was not immediately clear.
The manifesto
The group’s manifesto is built around five principles: facts over forwards, logic over volume, unity over division, freedom of thought and the Constitution.
Under its first principle, “Facts over forwards,” it urges people to verify information before sharing it, mocking social media posts that arrive with multiple exclamation marks as unreliable sources.
Its second principle, “Logic over lung power,” rejects shouting as a substitute for evidence, saying that the loudest voice on a television debate is not necessarily the most convincing.
The third, “Unity over division,” rejects hate and communal or social “othering”, while reducing the country’s political concerns to a deliberately blunt question: “where are the jobs?”
The fourth principle, “Freedom of thought,” argues that questioning a government is not equivalent to hating the country and describes dissent as part of a functioning republic.
Its fifth principle, “Constitution first,” places constitutional rights above political allegiance and invokes Article 19 as a test for government policy.
The website’s broader agenda similarly calls for independent thinking, the right to question governments and institutions, peaceful dissent, evidence-based debate and constitutional rights. It explicitly says it rejects armed violence and violent ideologies.
Whether it remains a satirical experiment or grows into something bigger, the Dimagi Naxal Party has already shown how quickly a political phrase can be reclaimed, repackaged and amplified online.
PNN
