CPI(M) MP Amra Ram’s Dig At Modi, Shah Over SIR Drive

Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) MP Amra Ram on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for talking about removing infiltrators in the name of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Speaking to ANI, he said that the SIR ploy was nothing, but was initiated to “cut votes” of the political and religious minorities, including the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.

“Prime Minister and Home Minister talk about infiltrators. 11 saal jhak mara rahe the kya? The government says 32,000 people didn’t fill out the forms. Can the government tell us how many of them are infiltrators? All of this is being done to further communalism and benefit from it politically,” Ram said.

“SIR can be conducted only at the place where there is a complaint, not in the entire nation. SIR is ongoing in Rajasthan. In Adivasi areas, half of the villages get vacant. Lakhs of people from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities are not educated and can’t fill the forms. This is why this SIR is only meant to cut votes of the SC, ST community, minorities and OBCs,” he added.

Extending support to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, the CPI(M) MP said that “vote theft” was indeed anti-national. He also pointed out the removal of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), whom he said is non-partisan, in the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

He said that the Election Commission (EC) has become the “Modi Commission”.

“It (Vote Chori) is (anti-national). Earlier, the appointment of the CEC was made by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. They removed CJI and included a Union cabinet minister. It is not the Election Commission, but the Modi Commission,” Ram said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister SP Singh Baghel said that Rahul Gandhi appeared confused during his speech on SIR.

“Yesterday, we heard the Leader of the Opposition speaking on SIR in the House, but he appeared confused. I had hoped that since he has experience of both winning and losing, he would share his experience as the Leader of the Opposition on electoral reforms, which would be in the interest of democracy, elections, and the public, but nothing like that happened,” Baghel said.

This comes as Lok Sabha continues discussion on the SIR exercise initiated by the ECI on the eighth day of the ongoing winter session of Parliament. Senior Congress MP KC Venugopal launched a scathing attack on the BJP in Lok Sabha today, saying the ruling party believed it could rule the country by using central investigative agencies and the ECI, among other institutions.

The opposition parties were demanding a debate on SIR for months, with Congress alleging discrepancies in the voter list. (ANI)