SIR row: Why is BJP out on the streets to ‘save democracy’?
As INDIA bloc rallies to ‘save the vote’, the BJP has launched its own ‘save democracy’ campaign, citing ‘anarchy’. They are saving democracy from whom?
Two slogans, “Vote bachao, desh bachao” (Save the vote, save the nation) and “Loktantra bachao, arajakta bhagao” (Save democracy, chase away anarchy), now define the political contest.
The INDIA bloc has taken the first to the streets, questioning the Election Commission (EC) and the Narendra Modi government over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The BJP, which governs the Centre and most states, is answering with the second. The standoff raises an uncomfortable question: From whom does the party in power need to save democracy?
What are the two campaigns?
The Congress-led INDIA bloc is running “Vote bachao, desh bachao”, and its leaders gathered at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on 1 November. The BJP’s “Loktantra bachao, arajakta bhagao” campaign includes padyatras (marches), road shows and public meetings. Home Minister Amit Shah walked with a tricolour in Hyderabad, and JP Nadda held a road show in Bareilly. BJP president Nitin Nabin was seen in Kolkata and Gorakhpur.
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What is the Opposition’s grievance?
The EC's SIR removed about 13 crore names from the rolls, roughly 15 per cent of electors. The Opposition alleges that voters were struck off by being labelled infiltrators, and that minorities and women were hit the hardest. Since the first week of October, the Opposition and student groups have also demanded Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
Protecting democracy is, in principle, the government’s job: keeping institutions credible, ensuring fair elections and giving dissent room.
Is there trouble inside the EC?
Reports suggest so. A report in The Indian Express said Kumar ran the EC like a fiefdom, and that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections 14 times in 10 months. These covered the SIR and changes such as those to Form 6. The EC has reversed some of its decisions since that report. Neither Kumar nor the two commissioners have addressed the media on the questions of fairness.
What is the BJP’s defence?
The party says the SIR is needed to cleanse the rolls of fake, duplicate and ineligible names. Shah, Nabin, Nadda and Shivraj Singh Chouhan have defended the EC. They accuse the Opposition of defaming constitutional bodies instead of accepting electoral verdicts. The BJP also criticised the Ramlila Maidan rally for hurting traders in the festive season, with estimates of losses ranging from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore.
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Why does the BJP’s move look odd?
The BJP has been in power at the Centre for 12 years, and it or its allies govern 21 states and Union territories, about 72 per cent of the country’s area. Protecting democracy is, in principle, the government’s job: keeping institutions credible, ensuring fair elections and giving dissent room.
So why is the BJP responding on the streets?
There could be many reasons, which critics of the Modi government have repeatedly pointed out: political counter-attack, concerns that the “vote chori” charge will reach ordinary voters, fear that it may impact the 2027 Assembly and 2029 Lok Sabha polls, and so on.
What is the bottom line?
The BJP’s padyatras and rallies are unlikely to make questions on the SIR disappear. As political observers point out, the answers will have to come through facts, not street rallies.
