The question was straightforward: “What exactly is an urban Naxal?” My reply: “It’s a ghost — both nothing and everything. Open your eyes, and you’ll find nothing. But if you close your eyes, filled with fear, it will linger like a shadow, everywhere.”

“Don’t speak in riddles. Tell me plainly — what is Naxalism? And what is this urban Naxal business?” The question came from a young participant in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Recently, during an election campaign, BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis declared that the ideology and working style of the Bharat Jodo Yatra participants were akin to urban Naxalism. He defined it as “polluting people’s minds, instilling doubt about the nation’s institutions and systems, and creating mistrust that ultimately undermines the country’s unity”.

Just a month earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accused the Congress of being run by urban Naxals. The young man’s question demanded a considered response. “I understand what Naxalism was… but this ‘urban Naxal’ idea is harder to grasp. Let me try,” I said to him.

Naxalism was a sub-current of........

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