PEOPLE IN BENGAL ARE REACTING STRONGLY AGAINST EC’S BID TO IMPLEMENT SIR
By Arun Srivastava
(Asian independent) Trepidation expressed by the 91-year-old Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen on Friday at a public discussion in Kolkata on ‘India’s Youth: Social Opportunities They Should Have’: “There remains a possibility that I might be sent back to Bangladesh because my ancestral home is in Dhaka,” has become the subject matter of intense discussions among the citizens including the academic persons in the context of Narendra Modi’s exhortations to drive out infiltrators on the same day at a nearby location in Dumdum.
The primary reason for Sen to express his apprehension has been the introduction of SIR. After the ECI introduced the SIR, a witch hunt was launched to trace the Bangladeshi, Nepali and Myanmar migrants hiding in India. Bengali speaking people across India came at the target of the saffron bigots and cadres. Some of the Bengali speaking migrants eking out livelihood in Delhi, Gurugram and in Mumbai, especially the areas having wide saffron influence and following, were pushed to Bangladesh, who eventually were deported back to Bengal as they were Indian Bengalis.
Though Sen described this action of Modi government as the sign of rising linguistic intolerance in the country, especially against Bengali-speaking people in various states, it was primarily aimed at punishing the Bengalis who have the envious credibility of being anti-establishment and pro-people. It is also inexplicable that the rightist elements, either bureaucrats or politicians, are unaware of the history of the Bengali language, culture and civilisation.
Ever since Narendra Modi become the prime minister, BJP has been trying to capture Bengal through elections. But all its efforts have proved to be futile exercise. The Bengalis have not responded to PM’s overtures. This in fact has been the major reason for Modi humiliating and showing utter contempt to the Bengalis. The saffron strategy got exposed with some BJP leaders from Bengal, like leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari saying: “We need SIR in Bengal. We will not allow Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims on the electoral list.”
There is no ambiguity that SIR targeted Bengalis along with Dalits, proletariats, and minorities. The obstinacy of Modi and Shah could be understood from the earlier reluctance of the Chief Election Commissioner to accept the suggestion of the Supreme court to accept Aadhaar as the identity proof. The RSS and BJP leaders nurse the view that the most of the Muslims who migrated from Bangladesh to Bengal have obtained Aadhaar and EPIC cards. Yet another area where, according to the RSS and BJP leaders, the Muslims have managed to obtain Aadhaar and EPIC cards is the Purvanchal of Bihar, which include Kishanganj Purnia, Katihar, and Bhagalpur, though they are not directly bordering the Bengal border in the same way Kishanganj does.
The INDIA bloc initially has been for complete abrogation of SIR. But the ECI only for this reason did not agree. It has been deploying its best legal brains to justify its action. Unfortunately, CEC and ECI have succeeded to a great extent in their mission. On Friday, the Supreme Court put the onus on the political parties of cross-checking the deletion of 65 lakh names from Bihar’s draft electoral rolls. The court also observed that claims, objections and fresh applications can be filed online. Though the apex court for the third time asked the CEC to accept Aadhaar as the proof, it is not yet clear whether the directive was binding.
It is really intriguing whether the BLAs or BLOs would accomplish the task by September 1, last date for announcing the final voters’ list. The court also directed the booth-level agents (BLAs) of 12 major political parties in Bihar to assist the ECI in checking the correctness of the 65 lakh deletions. This direction would prove to be useless. How could ECI which did not identify the names dead persons during last two months, would achieve it within 8 days. This suggestion from EDCI was simply a ploy to frustrate the demand for a publication of pure voter list.
It would not be exaggeration say that CEC Gyanesh Kumar succeeded in diverting the attention of the Supreme Court. If at all CEC and EDCI were sincere to rectify the so called mistake, it should have come out with this suggestion two months back, during the initial hearing. Unwillingness of CEC to rectify the mistake was manifest in its stubbornness not to allow the BLAs intervene, as the opposition parties complained. It is utopia that BLAs would complete the verification of the 65 lakh deletions, on the grounds of death, multiple registration, migration and untraceability — within eight days.
The apex court also suggested that the voters could submit their claims online. Can the judges of the bench assertively say that the migrant daily wage earners or the poor who have been turned homeless by the recent floods submit their forms on line? Can the CEC and ECI make available the online facilities to the hapless people? The judges must know a bare fact that at least two villages, both having thousands of population, one being Jamania in Bhojpur, have been completely wiped out. Nitish government even did not take measures to shift them to an alternate place. It is not known who has shifted where. Is it feasible for the villagers of these villages to furnish even Aadhaar as the residential proof?
On Friday ECI declared that two complaints had been accepted from the CPIML Liberation, a point the apex court noted in the order it dictated at the end of the day’s proceedings. . It is sad that an impression has been created that political parties were not keen to supply papers. The court said; “We are surprised to see that 1.68 lakh BLAs have so far filed only two objections.” But the fact is BLAs are not being permitted to submit objections. CPI(ML) has even submitted a formal complain to this effect.
The court ought to have asked a simple and plain reply from CEC why the BLOs were prevented from acknowledging receipt of such (online) forms? How could anyone be made to believe this version of ECI, when the INDIA bloc and especially Rahul Gandhi has made it a mission to expose the racket? Does the ECI want the people to believe that this has not struck senior lawyers Kapil Sibal, Vrinda Grover, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Prashant Bhushan and others.
CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said: “Our booth-level agents (BLAs) have been submitting complaints from day one. The chief electoral officer clarified that Form 6 can also be used for complaints against unjust deletion, and our BLAs have been doing that, but still the EC was showing ‘0’ complaints!” He said; “When we enquired again, we were told about the affidavit that has to be signed by the BLAs. Eventually, just before today’s hearing, they acknowledged only two of our complaints.” Dipankar added: “We have nearly 3,000 BLAs, but the names of half of them are yet to be acknowledged officially by the administration, which too limits our capacity to lodge complaints.” Election authorities officially recognise 1,496 BLAs of the CPIML Liberation in Bihar.
Nevertheless, Rahul on Friday exposed the real reason for CEC’s averseness towards rectifying the blunders in the voters’ list: “SIR is an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and the EC to steal your votes. Modi government is formed on ‘stolen votes’, so it ignores people’s issues. I want to ask you a straightforward question — can a government formed by stealing votes ever have the intention of serving the public?” He said “record-breaking unemployment is ruining the future of the youth but the government keeps filling the coffers of capitalists”.
He said; “Whether you live, die, or suffer — it makes no difference to them. They are confident that, whether the public votes or not, they will come back to power through theft. SIR is an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and the EC to steal your votes. They are trying their best to snatch your voting rights. Vote Chori is an attack on the Constitution of India.” (IPA Service)
