Rahul to join Oppn’s Bihar bandh tomorrow to corner govt over SIR

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and prominent Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be in Patna on Wednesday to add strength to Bihar bandh called by the Opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and the Left constituents, against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

- Subhash Pathak

Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, or the Grand Alliance as it is known in Bihar, have given a call for statewide protests, alleging the SIR’s stringent documentation requirements and tight July 25 deadline that risk disenfranchising millions, particularly marginalised communities like Muslims, Dalits and migrant workers.

A former Youth Congress leader, who mainly coordinates the LoP’s event in the state, Manjeet Anand Sahu, told HT that Rahul Gandhi is likely to lead the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee’s (BPCC) march on foot to protest the ECT's bid and mobilise people's support for the cause.

“He is also likely to meet the family of a slain ‘BJP leader’ and leading industrialist Gopal Khemka, who was shot dead by an unidentified assailant on the night of July 4,” added Sahu.

Opposition parties in Bihar have vociferously condemned the EC's SIR, launched on June 24, ahead of the October-November Assembly polls. RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav dubbed it ‘votebandi’, comparing it to demonetisation, while Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP of orchestrating voter suppression.

Earlier on Sunday, BPCC president Rajesh Kumar accused the ECI of orchestrating a ‘deliberate conspiracy’ through its latest advertisement on voter list revision for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, which was later withdrawn.

“The ECI seems to be leaving no stone unturned to favour the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) coalition in the upcoming state elections,” added the BPCC president.