Naseeruddin Shah is not staying quiet about student politics. The veteran actor has posted a video backing students at Jamia Millia Islamia, where protests over student union elections have entered their fifteenth day, and he did it while wearing a “Dimagi Naxal” pin.
In the Facebook video, the 76-year-old National Award winner showed the pin to the camera and declared himself a proud dimagi naxal. The term was used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year for critics of the administration. Shah also pushed back against other labels, including “anti-national” and “tukde tukde gang”, and then asked the central government what else it would do to break the courage of the country’s youth, destroy the education system and put democracy at risk. “How far will you go?” he asked in Hindi.
From SRFTI to Jamia: a pattern of support
This is not the actor’s first intervention. He had earlier backed students at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, and in July he criticised the government’s handling of the NEET exam protests. In the new video he linked the issues, saying that what is being done to students will be remembered, and recited a line from Bismil Azimabadi’s famous poem “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna”.
For Shah, the “Dimagi Naxal” pin is not just a response to a phrase. It is a visual statement that lets him wear the government’s dismissal as a badge. By putting it on camera, he gives a familiar face and a long career to the students’ demand for clarity.
What the Jamia students want
The stand-off is specific. Students at Jamia Millia Islamia have been demanding a definite date for student union elections, which have not been held since 2006, and a clear timeline for approval of the union’s constitution. As the protest entered its fifteenth day, the administration agreed to resume elections after two decades, but the students say that is still not enough.
The gap is the calendar. Without a definite poll date, the announcement leaves room for another wait. That is why the protest has not wound down, and why around 700 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed to the area, according to police.
- Student union elections at Jamia have not been held since 2006.
- The administration has agreed to resume polls, but has not issued a definite timeline.
- Naseeruddin Shah has now backed Jamia students after earlier support for SRFTI and NEET protesters.
Why this matters for celebrity watchers
For readers who follow Bollywood, this is a reminder that some stars use social video the way others use a red carpet: to make a point instantly. Shah has been posting frequent videos, and his political statements now arrive as small, direct addresses rather than through film promotions or interviews.
The “dimagi naxal” pin also shows how a political insult can be turned into personal branding. By repeating the phrase on his own terms, Shah changes the subject from whether he is loyal to whether the government can answer his question about students and institutions.
Source: Hindustan Times
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