New Delhi: A newly created Instagram account named “Dimagi Naxal Party” has suddenly become one of the most talked about political pages online after reportedly attracting more than 1.6 lakh followers within 24 hours.
The account’s rapid rise comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the term “dimagi Naxal” during his Independence Day address, sparking a political row that has since spilled over onto social media.
According to information reported about the Instagram account, the page was created this month. Its username has reportedly been changed once, while the account had 62 posts and was following around 35 accounts at the time of the report.
However, there is still no publicly established information about who operates the account or whether it is connected to any recognised political organisation. The follower count alone does not establish that the page represents a formal political movement or that all of its followers support the ideology associated with Naxalism.
The account’s sudden popularity follows Modi’s August 15 speech from the Red Fort, where he said India had made significant progress in tackling armed Naxalism but warned about people with a Maoist mindset. He urged citizens to “identify and isolate” what he described as “dimagi Naxals.”
The remark quickly became a political flashpoint.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram responded on August 16 by saying he was “proud to be a dimagi Naxal”. Chidambaram also argued that the term was another version of labels previously used by the BJP against its political opponents.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, rejected the suggestion that Modi had described Opposition leaders generally as “dimagi Naxals”. Rijiju said the term referred to people who support Maoists while rejecting the Constitution, back separatists and Article 370, or advocate separating the Northeast from the rest of India.
The exchange between Chidambaram and Rijiju added another layer to an already heated debate, while the Instagram account gave the phrase a new life online.
For now, the biggest unanswered question remains the identity and purpose of the people behind the page. Until that is independently established, the account’s extraordinary follower growth is best viewed as a social media phenomenon rather than evidence of a formally established political party.
What began as a phrase in an Independence Day speech has, within days, turned into a viral political label and now an Instagram identity with hundreds of thousands of followers.
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