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Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on India’s 80th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a historic victory over armed Naxalism, emphasizing that decades of bloody insurgency have effectively ended. Official data underscores this milestone, showing a drastic collapse in Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) from nearly 2,000 violent incidents in 2010 to just over 200 in 2025, alongside a massive drop in security force and civilian casualties. This decisive decline culminated in the nation being declared officially free from active Maoist violence on March 31, 2026.
However, the Prime Minister cautioned that physical elimination of armed cadres on the ground is only half the battle won. He warned against the persistent threat of “Dimagi Naxals”-an ideological network that continues to operate quietly within urban centres, academia, media, and activist circles. While the gun-toting insurgents have been neutralised, this subversively intellectual wing seeks to destabilise the nation from within by undermining national sovereignty, the Constitution, and territorial integrity.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju further clarified the government’s stance, noting that the term targets those who actively shelter and promote extremist narratives under the guise of intellectualism. By championing anti-national positions-such as supporting separatism, advocating for the restoration of Article 370, or aligning with narratives aimed at breaking the country apart-these urban elements continue to pose a direct threat to Bharat’s national unity and constitutional foundation.
A stark example of this subterranean extremism is Sharjeel Imam, a former JNU student and key strategist behind the Shaheen Bagh blockades. In a widely circulated January 2020 speech, Imam openly incited a mass mob of five lakh people to cut off Assam and the entire Northeast from the rest of Bharat. His explicit strategy was to choke the Siliguri Corridor-the vital “Chicken’s Neck” and permanently sever the region’s geographical link to the Indian Republic.
This dangerous call to physically dismember the country triggered multiple law enforcement actions, culminating in severe charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). His rhetoric encapsulates the true peril of the “Dimagi Naxal” ecosystem: the calculated weaponisation of protest politics, radical street mobilization, and identity narratives to execute hostile subversion and strike at the core of Bharat’s territorial integrity.
Then there is former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Nivedita Menon who sparked widespread outrage after describing Bharat as a “Manhus Desh” during a recent interview, while claiming that protest politics provided relief to Muslims who feared state hostility over the past 12 years. Her derogatory framing of the nation drew swift condemnation from public quarters, with citizens denouncing the remarks as a direct, ungrateful insult to Bharat and its constitutional identity.
Not only this, Nivedita Menon openly championed anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) agitators and Delhi riots suspects, romanticising jailed figures like Umar Khalid as heroes of a grand revolutionary movement. Her rhetoric directly validates anti-state defiance, framing radical lawlessness and destabilising protests as glorified struggles against the nation. During a 2016 JNU lecture, Nivedita Menon publicly claimed that Bharat’s presence in Kashmir constitutes an illegal occupation recognised globally. Her statement directly aligns with anti-national rhetoric, delegitimising Indian sovereignty while echoing separatist narratives against the nation’s territorial integrity.
Not only this, Nivedita Menon openly mocked and dismissed the severe, documented phenomenon of ‘Love Jihad.’ She said that Muslim men have an irresistible charm absent in Hindu society. This dismissive banter deliberately glosses over the brutal reality faced by countless victimised families-where extremist elements routinely falsify identities, wear sacred red threads (kalawa), and adopt fake Hindu names to deceive, exploit, and forcibly convert Hindu women. By disguising anti-Hindu hostility under the banner of liberal feminism, figures like Menon provide intellectual cover for radical subversion while relentlessly attacking Hindutva and Indian cultural traditions as inherently oppressive.
The radicalisation within urban institutional spaces reached an alarming peak through figures like Umar Khalid, a former JNU student indicted in the larger conspiracy behind the violent 2020 Delhi riots. Khalid’s track record includes key involvement in the notorious February 2016 JNU event organised to honour executed terrorists Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat-a gathering where permission was rightfully revoked after authorities uncovered its seditious nature.
Official Delhi High Court proceedings recorded treasonous chants from the event, including “Afzal Guru Maqbool Bhatt Zindabad,” “Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi,” and “Bharat tere tukde honge.” This blatant glorification of terrorist elements, masked under the guise of academic discourse and “azaadi” rallies, exposes a dangerous apparatus that seeks to legitimise separatism, vilify Indian security forces as “occupiers,” and launder anti-national agendas through street mobilisation and political protection.
The term “Urban Naxal” exposes a strategic extension of violent extremism-networks that supply intellectual cover, digital amplification, and institutional legitimacy to outlawed outfits like the CPI (Maoist). While security forces have systematically crushed the armed wing in regions like Bastar and Gadchiroli-neutralising hundreds of terrorists and securing thousands of surrenders-these covert sympathizers wage a parallel war. They maliciously smear lawful counter-terrorism operations as state overreach while vilifying essential infrastructure projects-such as roads, schools, and digital connectivity-as exploiters’ greed.
This ideological divide reached a breaking point when senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram publicly declared on social media that he was “proud” to identify with this mindset. His outrageous admission sparked severe condemnation, particularly from victims’ families who suffered under decades of Left-Wing Extremism. While the current administration treats this ecosystem as a direct threat to national sovereignty, the opposition’s legacy of indulging anti-state agitators under the guise of “civil liberties” demonstrates a troubling willingness to shield elements that seek to undermine the Indian state from within.
While the physical containment of armed insurgency represents a triumphant victory for Bharat’s security forces, the ultimate safeguard of national unity lies in dismantling the subterranean ideological networks that sustain it. The emergence of ‘Dimagi Naxals’-urban elements that launder anti-national agendas through academic, media, and activist platforms-poses an insidious threat to the country’s sovereignty, constitutional order, and territorial integrity. Neutralising armed cadres on the battlefield is only half the victory; securing Bharat’s future requires an unyielding commitment to exposing and neutralising these intellectual sympathizers who attempt to weaken the republic from within.
