From the Red Fort on Independence Day, the Prime Minister of 148 crore Indians called a section of his own citizens “dimagi naxals”, and ordered them to be identified and isolated. This is not a one-off slip, it is a pattern. Urban Naxals, Khan Market gang, Tukde-tukde gang, anti-nationals, and now “dimagi Naxals.” Every few years the same man invents a new pejorative for Indians who refuse to clap on cue. Students, journalists, academics, opposition voices; anyone who questions him is quickly turned into an internal enemy who must be hunted and isolated.A PM of a constitutional republic does not get to decide which thoughts are legitimate and which minds need to be quarantined. That is not leadership, that is contempt dressed up as patriotism. When the highest office in a sovereign nation speaks of it's own people this way, the failure is not of the citizens, the failure is the man who cannot lead without manufacturing enemies among them. 148 crore Indians did not elect a PM to police their minds, they elected him to protect the republic. He has failed that basic test; repeatedly, publicly, and from the Red Fort itself.
VINAY DWIVEDI, Benaulim
