INDIA bloc must take unified stand on SIR, says CPI(ML) Liberation leader

Calling for a unified response to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the INDIA bloc must move beyond the State-specific positions adopted by Opposition parties so far.

He also voiced concern over the delay in convening the INDIA bloc meeting that had been announced for August 8. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Bhattacharya said that on June 8, when the INDIA bloc had last met in Delhi, it was decided that another meeting would be held within two months.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had announced that the meeting would take place on August 8 in Hyderabad. “August 8 has come and gone, but the meeting has not happened. We have raised it with the Congress. There are several issues on which the INDIA bloc needs to take a unified position,” Mr.

Bhattacharya said. The SIR is among the primary issues on which the INDIA bloc needs to take a collective stance, Mr. Bhattacharya said. “So far, every State and the Opposition have responded to the SIR challenge in their own way.

Now we have the all-India picture emerging; it is high time that we take a national view and evolve a collective response,” he said. This has become crucial, he said, in view of the upcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur and Goa in 2027.

In both Bihar and West Bengal, Mr. Bhattacharya said, the impact of the SIR has been felt through mass exclusions of voters. A similar purge of voters has happened in Uttar Pradesh too, which needs a closer look, he added.

Mr. Bhattacharya further said that his party would contest the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. “If possible, as part of the INDIA bloc, if a broader coalition emerges,” he said, adding that if that does not happen, CPI(ML) Liberation would contest on its own or as part of the Left bloc.

“In all these States, if you look at the ground situation, the people are fed up with these governments,” he added. Raising questions about the electoral process, Mr. Bhattacharya said that while people’s anger is evident, electoral outcomes cannot be predicted in the context of what he described as mass disenfranchisement.

“We can only talk about the people’s mood and their eagerness for change. What made Jantar Mantar click? It was UP. It was the anger of U.P. voters that spilled over into the streets of Delhi,” he said. politics / election / Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls