By Arun Srivastava
Rahul Gandhi’s Vote Adhikar Yatra got tremendous response in Bihar on the inaugural day on Sunday, August 17 when the Leader of Opposition exposed the Election Commission’s attitude in his speech and along with the other India Bloc leaders gave his one man one vote slogan.
In a post in Hindi on X on Saturday, just a day ahead of Yatra, Rahul said, “16 days, 20+ districts, 1,300+ km. We are coming among the people with the Voter Adhikar Yatra. This is a fight to protect the most basic democratic right – ‘one person, one vote’. Join us in Bihar to save the Constitution”.
In yet another post he said “From August 17, with Voter Adhikar Yatra, we are launching a direct fight against vote theft from the soil of Bihar. This is not just an election issue instead it is a decisive battle to protect democracy, the constitution, and the principle of ‘one man, one vote’. We will ensure a clean voter list across the entire country”.
Rahul is undertaking a fortnight “walking mission” in Bihar to arouse the people of their responsibilities and make them aware of the malpractices of the RSS and BJP. Philosophically the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ which is organised against “vote chori”, carries more importance than the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Rahul feels that to rescue the Republic from the machinations of Modi and RSS, the fight for “one man one vote,” must be intensified. Realising the threat potential of Rahul’s mission, the CEC has launched a campaign of attributing it as his “misinformation campaign”.
The Dalit and proletariat are aware of the importance of their right to vote. Birth of Naxalite movement owes primarily to these people waging armed struggle against the landlords and upper castes who were determined not to allow them to exercise their right to franchise and elect their own representative. Ekwari in Bhojpur was the epicentre of the Naxalite movement. In 1965 Ram Naresh Ram had contested for the post of Mukhiya of Ekwari panchayat. On the strength of the Dalits and proletariats, he had defeated feudal candidate and opened a new chapter in the assertion of the oppressed. He was hailed as Ekwari’s ‘mukhiyaji’ ever since. In 1967, Ram’s comrade and fellow-fighter ‘Master’ Jagdish was captured and beaten nearly to death. Soon after, the ‘spring thunder’ of Naxalbari could be heard in Bhojpur. Bihar set new records of electoral violence in various elections since 1980 to 2010.
This time Dalit and proletariat being conscious of their right to vote had been agitating against denial of their voting right. But the upper caste forces tried to raise the issue of security for simply diverting them from the issue of denial of their right. An impression was being created by some rightist forces that Election Commission’s SIR was not the biggest threat, instead they should fight for their food security. Interestingly these forces started offering fake ATM cards to the poor and Dalit.
This plotting did not go unnoticed. It was primary with the view to counter such moves of the rightist forces Rahul decided to connect with these people and make them aware of the dangers of the SIR and how they would be made “stateless” in their own state. To give a shape to it Rahul especially focused on youths of Bihar and urged them to join his Vote Adhikar Yatra.
Like Congress, other allies, RJD, CPI(ML) of INDIA bloc, nursed a clear perception that Supreme Court’s order would bring transparency in the SIR process and is “an important first step” and a ‘massive victory’ for democracy”, but it is certainly not a guarantee to prevent EC from indulging in “vote chori” (theft of vote) and implement its plan to help the BJP to grab power through distorting the electoral process. The intrigues of CEC could be foiled only through making them realise the threat they face. The threat from Supreme Court that it would intervene and monitor the entire process may force ECI to lie low for the sometime, but it continues to linger. This has forced Rahul Gandhi to be cautious of the design of CEC and to lunch a sustained peoples’ movement for putting a check on EC executing this nasty plan in other states. Basically this is the reason that he stuck to his plan of 15 day march, cris crossing Bihar, with the aim of building a massive movement.
There is no doubt that the Election Commission , behind the façade of SIR was conspiring to snatch the right to vote from the Dalits, proletariats and minorities, who are perceived by the RSS and BJP as antagonist to rightist forces and are opposed to the politics and principle of majoritarianism. What has aggravated the trust deficit in respect of ECI is its launching Special Intensive Revision (SIR) instead of Intensive Revision (IR) of the electoral rolls. There was no need for resorting to SIR. A simple IR exercise would have been sufficient to verify the status of the voters. In fact the design of the SIR was planned during the tenure of the former CEC Rajiv Kumar.
The ECI claims that last SIR in Bihar was done in 2003. But it is a false narrative. It was an Intensive Revision (IR) exercise. This change from IR to SIR has been of deceptive nature. In the beginning the ECI said that it would weed out foreigners through SIR, but gradually it was seen that EC was using SIR to delete the names of the Dalit, proletariat and minorities voters, who were suspect in the eyes of the saffron ecosystem. The ulterior design of the ECI has been the primary issue for the INDIA bloc to hit the street and expose the ECI’s malpractices and complicity in vote rigging.
Apex court ruling on the Bihar SIR is a massive victory for democracy, and a warning to the Vote Chors (thieves but in all fairness it should asked CEC to make public the reason for implementing SIR. SC should have categorically directed the CEC to hold the election on the basis of the old voter list which formed the basis for 2024 Lok Sabha election. What is the guarantee that CEC would not prefer to ignore apex court’s direction.
CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “the scale of exclusion is huge, time is short and most of the electors have been wrongfully penalised for no fault of their own. The onus of correction should also be put on the perpetrators of error. That is the principle of fairness, natural justice and transparency that the EC had invoked as guiding tenets for the SIR in its counter affidavit”. Dipankar holds, the Supreme Court order rejects the ECI’s stubborn refusal to heed the suggestions and addresses three core concerns about the practical implementation of the drive. The issue of legality of SIR is yet to be determined by the Supreme Court.
Dipankar seeks to know “What happens to the 3.5 million migrant workers whose names have been eliminated from the draft rolls? Instead of putting the onus of complaint/correction on the victims, is it not fair to ask the EC to organise grievance-redressal or error-correction camps at booth and block levels where the victims of SIR can seek redressal?”
Rahul’s march, starting from Sasaram will pass through Angika, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Kosi, Seemanchal, Mithila, Tirhut, Saran and Bajjika, and Surjapuri zones. Significantly the areas had in the past witnessed intense peasant struggle in sixties, seventies and eighties. Most of the areas had been strong holds of the CPI(ML) and had witnessed massive class struggle in which hundreds of Dalits had lost lives.
Rahul undertaking the Yatra also makes it explicit that the INDIA bloc is not in the favour of boycotting the assembly elections. Some INDIA leaders feel that a boycott would be an abdication and a political blunder. The Yatra would also showcase INDIA unity in Bihar. Sasaram holds political significance due to its historical ties to Sher Shah Suri, a powerful king who challenged the Mughal Empire. (IPA Service)
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