BJP president Nitin Nabin on Saturday accused the Opposition of conspiring to destabilise India using foreign powers. He claimed these groups want to create anarchy. "The Opposition is now hatching a deep conspiracy to spread instability and anarchy in Bharat," Nabin said. The party also blamed urban Naxal mindsets for protests.

Nitin Nabin at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Friday.  @NitinNabin/X via PTI

BJP president Nitin Nabin on Saturday invoked the familiar "foreign hand" and "urban Naxal" narratives to accuse the Opposition and the Cockroach Janta Party of conspiring to destabilise the country and create a "dangerous atmosphere".

While Nabin was fielded to attack the anti-government agitators amid a sweeping security crackdown and mass detentions, there was utter silence from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

"Frustrated at being repeatedly rejected by the public in our democracy, the Opposition is now hatching a deep conspiracy to spread instability and anarchy in Bharat at the behest of foreign powers," Nabin told reporters.

He alleged that forces with an "urban Naxal" mindset, operating under Opposition patronage, were making "futile attempts" to challenge the country's security and sovereignty.

Invoking a "foreign hand" has been a familiar tactic for those in power in the country when confronted with dissent. During the Emergency in the 1970s, Indira Gandhi had alleged that the student movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan was being fuelled by foreign powers.

A decade later, her son Rajiv Gandhi accused an "invisible foreign hand" of trying to derail India's development at a time when his government was embroiled in the Bofors scandal. Under Modi, the BJP has repeatedly invoked the "foreign hand" and an "international toolkit" to malign political opponents during major protests. The party has also stuck labels such as "urban Naxal", "dimaagi Naxal" and "anti-national forces" on its critics.

Nabin alleged that "anarchic groups", unable to countenance India's progress and growing global stature under Modi, were working at the behest of foreign powers. He warned the Opposition that the country's youth would not tolerate its "insulting language" against constitutional bodies and senior constitutional functionaries. "The youth of Bharat is watching and they will certainly face the consequences."

Nabin's remarks came in the morning just as the crackdown on the protesters was beginning.