5 min readAug 23, 2026 07:09 AM IST First published on: Aug 23, 2026 at 06:50 AM ISTAm I a ‘dimagi Naxal’? Ever since the Prime Minister identified this new genre of traitor in his Red Fort speech, I have brooded over this question. In simple English, this new kind of traitor is an intellectual with leftist tendencies who takes inspiration from the teachings of Chairman Mao. So, as someone who is possibly the most economically right-wing, politically conservative columnist in our vast and wondrous land, why should I of all people worry? Well, because the definition of ‘dimagi Naxal’ is treacherously ambiguous and could encompass even those who despise Mao and totally oppose violent uprisings against the Indian State.On this, my credentials are impeccable. I openly opposed the late Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at a time when you could be killed for doing so. And, never at any stage of my long career in journalism have I had the smallest sympathy for the Naxalites. Not even in the seventies when many young people of my acquaintance were not just in sympathy with this movement but had given up college to march with the comrades in the jungles. In those days it was fashionable to be extremely leftist and unfashionable to be mildly rightist, either politically or economically.