On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed an unusual phrase at the centre of public debate. Armed Naxalism, he said, has been defeated, but “mental Naxals” remain, searching for “ways of violence and anarchy” and trying to “drag society onto the wrong path”. The provocation was deliberate: having defeated the gun, India must confront the ideas, incentives and networks that once gave the gun legitimacy. This territorial victory is substantial.

A June 2026 government factsheet says that Left Wing Extremism affected 126 districts in 2014 and only two in 2026; the number of districts classified as most affected fell from 35 to zero. These are not sterile statistics. They represent villages where a road, school, health centre, mobile tower or bank branch can finally function without the veto of an armed squad. Yet that security victory does not automatically produce an intellectual victory. The geography of violence can shrink even as the psychology that excuses it migrates to a few television studios, digital platforms and political rhetoric. It is in this context that the expression dimaagi Naxal must be understood.

Before applying the expression, however, an essential constitutional boundary must be drawn. A dimaagi Naxal is not a citizen who criticises government policies, questions economic growth, asks why growth is not creating enough good jobs, reports a government failure or votes against the ruling party. Such disagreement is democracy’s oxygen. The expression must describe conduct, not identity: a persistent willingness to place foreign applause above India’s sovereign interest; to turn opposition to a government into contempt for the country; to provide intellectual, legal or financial cover for violence; or to celebrate a national setback because it embarrasses a political rival.

That line is crossed when disagreement with the government becomes an investment in India’s failure. This boundary becomes especially important when the debate turns to the economy. In July 2025, the Leader of the Opposition........

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