Following the BJP’s reshuffle of its IT cell and the appointment of Deepak Mhaskey as its new head, the party’s social media presence has suddenly become more active, with new accounts emerging for the BJP’s state unit.
It appears that this sudden increase in activity is aimed at targeting the opposition and specific individuals, in order to give a clear and definitive meaning to the term "Dimag Naxal" coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 2026 Independence Day address from the Red Fort.
A social media campaign launched by multiple BJP units, are employing popular movie scenes to target individuals labelled as “Dimaagi Naxals.” However, it has sparked an online backlash, with critics alleging that the party is deploying violent imagery against young demonstrators and political rivals.
BJP’s Chhattisgarh unit shared a meme featuring a popular scene from the web series 'Mirzapur,' in which Munna Tripathi confronts college students involved in university politics.
While posting the video, the BJP Chhattisgarh unit stated: “Instead of being ‘Dimaagi Naxal’ you can be someone who can participate in Nation’s progress.”
In another video posted from the national social media handle of BJP, it depicts the footage from the Starz series Spartacus (the 2010–2013 TV show), with caption, "Shall We Begin."
Similarly in another post shared from BJP Karnataka IT handle depicts the scene from KGF 2 movie, which shows Sanjay Dutt and his companions as Dimagi Naxal unit who came under the gun onslaught of Yash and his companions as BJP unit. These meme from KGF attracted the most attention on social media.
Subsequently, other BJP state handle also shared their versions of movie scenes depicting Dimagi Naxal.
The post faced backlash from numerous social media users, who alleged that the BJP was employing violent visuals in its political communication. Some also raised concerns over whether using violent film scenes was suitable for engaging younger viewers, especially given that the campaign was specifically targeted at Gen Z.
Many social media users reacted to BJP Dimagi Naxal meme fest. One user reacted to the posts by writing: “So now BJP is directly threatening GENZ of violence if they agitate… GENZ; the only way to save yourself now is to throw BJP out of power and this nation!!!”
While another user wrote, "If critics are the enemy in your video, you are not serving people. You are hunting them on screen."
While reacting to controversy, Saurav Das, chief spokesperson of Cockroach Janata Party wrote on X, Actually a little saddened to see “the world’s largest political party” be drunk on so so so much hate that they don’t see any problem in calling for MASS MURDER of a generation that believes in questioning those in government and simply demanding a better system and a brighter future for themselves. It’s literally what Hitler did with jews in Nazi Germany.
Critics, including Congress Kerala, called the content incitement tied to July 2026 student protests over NEET irregularities where police injured over 100 with pellet guns and tear gas.
Congress Kerala tweeted, The ruling party of World’s largest democracy is threatening to kill the world’s largest youth population because they protested against them. World needs to watch this.
take cognisance of this war cry for genocide
Supporters describe it as a strong stance against extremism, yet even certain BJP backers criticized the strategy, highlighting internal disagreements over political messaging and dissent.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju explained that the measure targets backers of separatism rather than regular government critics, though opposition leaders regard it as a blow to dissent. The initiative underscores growing strain in the tone of political discourse online.
