With Munna Bhaiya, KGF memes, BJP takes 'Dimagi Naxal' war online, faces flak

Dimagi Naxals, a phrase coined by PM Modi in his Independence Day speech, has now become a key part of the BJP's online campaign. Several state units have repurposed popular scenes from KGF, Mirzapur and RRR into memes to push the party's narrative.Screengrabs from memes posted by BJP state units"Avengers Assemble," tweeted BJP Chhattisgarh on August 26 as it tagged other state units and gave a clarion call to take on 'Dimagi Naxals' - a phrase coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech. Since then, BJP's X handles have gone into overdrive, turning clips from movies and web series and using pop culture references as political ammo. From KGF and Mirzapur to RRR, popular scenes have been repurposed into memes to push the party's narrative against 'Dimagi Naxals'.However, the campaign by the BJP's newly constituted social media team has also come under severe backlash. Several users and the opposition said it reflected a mentality that fears dissent. It marks the BJP's first major online campaign since Deepak Mhaskey replaced Amit Malviya as the party's IT Cell chief earlier this month. The references to popular culture and characters like Munna Bhaiya of Mirzapur fame appear to fit into PM Modi's call to party workers to reach out to Gen Z and youth.FLOOD OF DIMAGI NAXAL MEMESAt the centre of the campaign is PM Modi's newly minted phrase - Dimagi Naxal. During his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister said India succeeded in getting rid of "armed Naxals" but warned that people with a Naxal mindset (dimagi Naxals) were still looking to create violence and unrest. "They need to be identified and isolated," PM Modi said. The BJP's social media team has now turned it into a meme war, moving beyond the usual playbook of witty tweets or hashtag campaigns. One of the first posts was by the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit.It posted a video featuring actors Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff at a reality show. The BJP gave the otherwise innocuous clip a political makeover, presenting the three actors as BJP Karnataka, BJP J&K and BJP Goa. "Teen bhai, teeno tabahi. The worst nightmare for the Dimagi Naxal ecosystem," the caption read. Madhya Pradesh BJP soon entered the chat. "Three brothers? Make it four. Now there will be a fight till the finish!" it tweeted, posting a clip from the Vicky Kaushal-starrer historical film Chhaava.Perhaps the most viral meme was the one featuring Munna Bhaiya - a key character from the Mirzapur series. It shows Munna Bhaiya slapping a college student, whom the BJP labelled as 'Dimagi Naxal'."Instead of being Dimagi Naxal, you can be someone who can participate in the nation's progress," BJP Chhattisgarh tweeted. A second meme posted by the BJP unit shows 'Singham' Ajay Devgn thrashing a goon. "Treatment of Dimagi Naxal in Chhattisgarh style," the caption read.There was another from Mirzapur, with a scene featuring Kaleen Bhaiya - the role essayed by Pankaj Tripathi. "Always ready?" Delhi BJP captioned the post, responding to the above tweet by BJP Chhattisgarh.The Goa unit of BJP used a scene from the popular sitcom 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah' to joke about "cooking the Congress and Dimagi Naxal together".KGF MEMES DRAW FLAKAmong the most controversial was a meme that used a scene from Yash-starrer KGF. It showed the protagonist and his henchmen opening fire on their rivals from a mountain. The BJP repurposed the scene to portray the shooters as its different state units, while their rivals as 'Dimagi Naxals'."No slowing down - taking on 'Dimagi Naxals' with full force," BJP Karnataka tweeted. The meme, in particular, drew fierce criticism on social media."Labelling Gen Z as Dimagi Naxal and cockroaches, and then threatening to use the intense violence similar to Mirzapur and KGF on Gen Z. Have you lost the plot completely?" one user tweeted.Another commented, "In democracy, ideas are countered with ideas, not with bullets and hints of violence."Yashaswinee Raje Singh, daughter of former BJP MLA Vikram Singh, also attacked the party's latest campaign. "Nobody has done more to normalise violent political rhetoric in india than the BJP," she said.Over the past few days, a visible pattern has emerged. One BJP state unit will post a meme on 'Dimagi Naxals', another will respond, and then another will jump in with its own version. It is like a running chain.A member of BJP's IT Cell said the idea is to galvanise the party's sprawling state-level social media networks onto a common platform. The aim is to ensure that a post by a BJP state unit does not remain confined to followers of that state only. The payoff? Content that can influence the political narrative in multiple states at once.The mantra is simple: take a viral piece of pop culture, edit or repurpose it, attach a political message, and let the meme do the work. A BJP leader told India Today that the activities of the past three days of the social media team were merely a "trailer".The BJP's next major focus is taking the campaign to Instagram, which seems to be the social media of choice for Gen Z.- EndsPublished By: Abhishek DePublished On: Aug 29, 2026 14:39 IST