'Half-Maoists': When less is more

With the recent indictment of Dalit activists and lawyers by the Pune police, the term 'Urban Naxalite' has moved beyond the BJP's political lexicon and been appropriated by law enforcement agencies

We are witnessing the creation of a new public enemy – the ‘Urban Naxalite’. The term describes not only over-ground Maoist sympathisers, of which there are bound to be some, but also encompasses a larger amorphous population of those who sympathise with the condition of India’s most marginalised – Dalits and Adivasis. Arun Jaitley, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s wordsmith, has ingeniously designated them ‘Half Maoists’ a la Chetan Bhagat.
 
The etymology of the term can be traced to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had described Aam Adami Party chief Arvind Kejriwal as an anarchist who might as well join