‘Congress Turning Maoist’: Kiren Rijiju Defends Gen Z Protest Response, Draws BJP’s New Battlelines

Kiren Rijiju opened fire on three political fronts in one sweeping political broadside.

He accused the Congress of transforming into a “Maoist party”, rejected allegations of police brutality during student protests and presented the BJP’s newly constituted national team as the organisation that will carry Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political vision into the next election cycle.

In a sweeping interview, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister defended the government’s response to the Gen Z agitation over examination irregularities while claiming that political groups had infiltrated the student movement and attempted to provoke violence.

He also escalated the controversy over Modi’s “dimagi Naxal” remark, insisting it was not originally directed at any particular opposition party but arguing that the Congress had identified itself with the label through its own response.

‘Congress Thought It Was About Them’

The row began with Modi’s Independence Day speech from the Red Fort.

The prime minister said that while armed Naxalites operating from forests had been largely eliminated, “dimagi Naxals” remained active in different parts of the country and needed to be “identified and isolated”.

Opposition leaders accused Modi of deploying a new political label against critics. Congress MP P Chidambaram responded on X: “I am proud to be a dimagi Naxal!”

Rijiju claimed the prime minister had not named the Congress or any opposition party. “Congress thought this was about them,” he said.

He then sharpened the attack, accusing the party of moving towards Maoist politics.

“In a way, the Congress party has transformed itself into a Maoist and Naxalite entity,” Rijiju said. “Having already become akin to the Muslim League, they are now moving towards becoming a Maoist party as well.”

The minister alleged that the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi during the UPA government had included people sympathetic to such ideologies. He did not name any member or cite specific evidence supporting the charge.

Rijiju defined “dimagi Naxals” as people who, in his view, support separatism, demand the restoration of Article 370 or advocate the separation of the Northeast from the rest of India.

He further accused Maoist sympathisers of celebrating the deaths of personnel from the armed forces and central security organisations.

Congress leaders have rejected the expression as political abuse, describing it as the latest addition to a vocabulary that previously included “urban Naxal”, “andolanjeevi” and “tukde tukde gang”.

Manmohan Singh Drawn Into the Battle

Rijiju sought to turn the Congress’s attack on Modi against the party by invoking former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

He shared a statement made by Singh on April 13, 2006, describing Naxalism as “the single biggest internal security challenge” faced by India.

According to Rijiju, Modi had echoed Singh’s assessment while speaking about the continuing ideological threat from Maoism.

The minister demanded that the Congress apologise to Singh’s family for criticising a position he claimed was rooted in the former prime minister’s warning.

The comparison, however, merges two different formulations. Singh had spoken specifically about the armed Naxalite insurgency as a security threat. Modi’s “dimagi Naxal” expression extends the label into the political and ideological domain, which is the source of the present controversy.

Rijiju Defends Police Handling of Gen Z Protests

Rijiju also mounted a forceful defence of police and administrative action during student protests over paper leaks and alleged examination irregularities.

“Not a single person was harmed; not a single person suffered a broken bone,” he claimed. “Not even one protester is in the hospital with a serious injury.”

He said thousands had joined the movement and alleged that political workers and “criminals” entered the demonstrations disguised as students.

Rijiju named the Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Bhim Army among the groups he accused of inflaming the protests. He also targeted what he described as “dafli-playing agitators”.

No evidence was cited to establish that more than half the protesters belonged to political groups or that criminals had infiltrated the demonstrations.

The minister said Delhi Police exercised restraint and intervened only when protesters attempted to break barricades and march towards Parliament.

“During the protests, the Delhi administration did not use even one lathi,” he said. “It was only when they forcibly marched towards Parliament that they were stopped.”

Rijiju argued that the police deserved praise for controlling a large crowd without firing a shot or causing a fatality.

His assertion that nobody was harmed sits alongside reports of clashes during the wider agitation. In Siwan, Bihar, police used tear gas and carried out a lathi charge after stone-pelting on July 25. An AK-47 firing incident was also reported during the unrest.

The minister’s comments appeared primarily directed at the police response in Delhi, although he defended both the Delhi and Bihar administrations during the interview.

Congress Era Invoked Again

Rijiju contrasted the response with the handling of agitations under previous Congress governments.

“If such a movement had taken place during the Congress era, and many did, resulting in thousands of deaths, one should praise the Delhi Police and the administration,” he said.

He cited the Emergency and the Telangana statehood agitation while alleging that Congress governments had responded to protests with lethal force.

Rijiju offered no specific casualty figures or incidents to support his claim that “thousands actually died from gunfire” during Congress-era movements.

He said the Modi government respected the concerns of students and remained committed to punishing those responsible for examination leaks.

On July 23, Modi announced that fast-track courts would be established to prosecute accused paper-leak offenders and promised that people who damaged the future of students would not be spared.

The protests have been driven by allegations of irregularities in major examinations, including the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, and demands for wider reform of the recruitment and testing system.

BJP’s New Team Gets Rijiju’s Endorsement

Even as he attacked the opposition and defended the government, Rijiju praised the BJP’s new national organisation under party president Nitin Nabin.

He described the team as a product of Modi’s ability to combine experience, regional representation, professional diversity and younger leadership.

“He creates a blend of representatives from every state and region, people with diverse professional backgrounds and experience, alongside energetic new faces,” Rijiju said.

The organisational overhaul brings Smriti Irani and former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb into the group of national general secretaries alongside Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Gajendra Patel, Satish Poonia, Harish Dwivedi and Sanjay Bhatia.

BL Santhosh will continue as national general secretary for organisation.

Vasundhara Raje, Tirath Singh Rawat, Ram Madhav, Baijayant Jay Panda and D Purandeswari are among the 13 national vice presidents. Six of those positions have gone to women.

Piyush Goyal has been retained as national treasurer, Anil Baluni will continue as media convenor and former chemistry professor Deepak Mhaskey will lead the BJP’s social media operation.

The new team’s first major electoral test will arrive in 2027, when Uttar Pradesh and several other states are scheduled to vote.

Rijiju’s message was unmistakable. The BJP, he argued, is renewing itself for the future. The police deserve applause, not condemnation. And the Congress, by protesting against the “dimagi Naxal” label, has walked straight into the argument Modi wanted to start.

(With inputs from ANI)