Bastar

News India Xtra@newsIndiaxtra

Union minister Kiren Rijiju has responded to Rahul Gandhi's dare for a public debate with PM Modi, saying the Centre's next goal is to finish off the 'dimagi Naxals'.

Rijiju recalled Manmohan Singh once calling Left-wing extremism the top internal security danger facing India, and told Gandhi to credit Modi for going after the armed Maoists.

JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha called the challenge absurd and accused Gandhi of dodging House debates. Gandhi, speaking to CRPF personnel in Bastar, said the PM should set the time for the debate.

News India Xtra@newsIndiaxtra

Congress has hit back at PM Modi over his Diwali address to CRPF personnel at a camp in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. He told the forces that armed Naxalites had been wiped out from the forests, but 'dimagi Naxals' now controlled several organisations and had infiltrated political parties.

Jairam Ramesh posted on X that Modi had used a solemn, non-political occasion to attack his rivals. He also cited Modi's past shifts, such as calling caste census backers urban Naxals in 2024 and repealing the farm laws in 2021.