Alleged psephologist and Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s aide Yogendra Yadav has invoked Hindu god Murugan in an attempt to mock Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his use of the term “Dimaagi Naxal”, in what can be seen as a move to reduce a revered Hindu deity to a political punchline.
Yadav’s remarks were based on a Facebook post by distortian and fiction writer Devdutt Pattanaik, who had offered an unconventional interpretation of the term “Dimagi Naxal” by connecting the word “Naxal” to a Sanskrit/Tamil tradition associated with Murugan, also known as Kartikeya.
While Pattanaik’s post did not claim that modern-day Naxalism originated from Murugan, he instead attempted to present a speculative religious and linguistic interpretation of “Naxal”, connecting it to naxal grass and the birth traditions of Kartikeya, like he does with his fiction stories.
According to Pattanaik’s post, Kartikeya was born among reeds and was therefore associated with the term “Naxali”. He further connected Kartikeya to the tradition of carrying water in pots using a bamboo shoulder sling, or kawar/kavad, drawing a parallel with the modern Kavadi tradition associated with Murugan worship.
Pattanaik then made a much broader speculative claim, suggesting that images resembling shoulder slings can be found among Harappan artefacts and that the practice may therefore have existed in Harappan cities.
He concluded his post by describing the “Dimagi Naxal” as a “Shiva-bhakta” and suggesting a connection with ancient Tamil Shaiva traditions.
Pattanaik left the interpretation open-ended, asking whether the account should be considered “fact or fiction or faith”.
Yogendra Yadav Turns The Claim Into A Political Attack
Yadav subsequently picked up Pattanaik’s argument and used it to question Modi’s use of the expression “Dimagi Naxal”.
In a video, Yadav argued that if Pattanaik’s interpretation were accepted, the term “Naxal” could be traced to Kartikeya, whom he described as the first person to carry a kavad.
Yadav then asked whether Modi, while attacking his political opponents from the Red Fort, had inadvertently insulted the “tradition of Shiva”.
He said, “Devdutt Pattanaik says that the naxals, the Dimagi Naxals, it belongs to the tradition of Shiva. He is the very first person to carry a Kavad; his image can even be seen at Harappa. So, did Modi ji, while inadvertently taking aim at his political rivals from the ramparts of the Red Fort, end up insulting the tradition of Shiva?”
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The political point Yadav was attempting to make was that the phrase “Dimagi Naxal”, when used as a blanket political insult, could theoretically encompass figures associated with the religious tradition described by Pattanaik.
But in making that argument, Yadav dragged Murugan/Kartikeya into a contemporary political dispute over Naxalism.
Modern Naxalism refers to a violent communist insurgent movement rooted in Maoist ideology. Murugan, by contrast, is one of the most revered deities in Hinduism and is especially central to Tamil Hindu tradition.
There is obviously no historical or ideological equivalence between the two.
Yet Yadav’s argument deliberately juxtaposes them to make a political point against Modi.
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