Targeting political opponents, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said armed Maoists have been eliminated, but “dimagi Naxals” have infiltrated several political parties and organisations and are instigating people against the Constitution and democracy.

“We must identify and defeat such elements and secure the country,” Modi said, while celebrating Diwali with security personnel at a CRPF camp in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, continuing his tradition of spending the festival with India’s brave men and women in uniform. The government declared the country free of Naxalism on March 31 this year.