A satirical Instagram account calling itself the “Dimagi Naxal Party” has attracted more than 200,000 followers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the term “dimagi Naxal” in his Independence Day speech.
The account was created a day after Modi’s remarks and gained more than 181,000 followers overnight, according to the report. Several similarly named accounts have since appeared across social media.
The page describes itself as a satirical online movement and says its slogan is: “We think. We research. We resist.” Its Instagram bio identifies its founder only as “a dimagi Indian”.
One of its early posts listed membership criteria, including the requirement that members should be able to “disagree with your own leaders”.
The account was briefly unavailable on Monday. Its operators later said on X that it had been targeted by “cyber attacks”, prompting some users to urge others to follow the page before it was removed.
The group says it draws inspiration from revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and has used Modi’s phrase to frame what it describes as resistance to political labelling.
The account has also compared the idea of “dimagi Naxalism” with the concept of thought crimes in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
Modi’s remarks trigger political debate
Modi used his Independence Day address to say that while India’s armed Maoist insurgency had been largely defeated, what he described as its ideological influence remained.
He alleged that people with a Maoist mindset had held influential positions, including on government committees, and had influenced policy from within the system.
The remarks prompted a political backlash, with senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram saying he was “proud to be a dimagi naxal”.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju said Modi’s comments were not directed at opposition leaders, but at people he said supported Maoist ideology, rejected the Constitution, backed separatism or advocated measures threatening India’s territorial integrity.
BJP lawmaker Ravi Shankar Prasad criticised Chidambaram’s response as irresponsible.
The episode highlights how political labels can be repurposed online, turning terms intended as criticism into identities around which supporters can build social-media communities. A similar trend has been seen with the satirical “Cockroach Janta Party”, which has also developed a substantial Instagram following.
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