Mehbooba Mufti calls herself ‘dimaagi Naxal’ over Article 370

PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Sunday she is a 'dimaagi Naxal' because she supports Article 370, which granted special status to the state. "I support Article 370. I'm a dimaagi Naxal," Mufti posted on X, reacting to Union Minister Kiren Rijiju's clarification that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not label opposition leaders as such in his Independence Day speech.

Telanganatoday.com reports that in his August 15 address, PM Modi warned the country about 'dimagi Naxals' who he said had entrenched themselves in the system and manipulated policies, urging citizens to identify and isolate them. Greaterkashmir.com adds that Rijiju later specified on X that only those who support Maoists, reject the Constitution, stand with separatists, support Article 370, or advocate breaking up the North-East should be called 'dimagi Naxals'. The Times of India notes that Congress leader P Chidambaram responded by posting, "I am proud to be a dimagi naxal!"

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi hit back at Chidambaram, citing former prime minister Manmohan Singh's 2006 description of Naxalism as the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by the country. The war of words has widened into a national political debate over the distinction between armed Naxalism, ideological opposition, and legitimate dissent.