Like ancestor passes of Nazi Germany: TMC on EC's special intensive revision of electoral roll

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday equated the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar and later in other states, including West Bengal, to the issuance of 'ancestor passes' (Ahnenpass) in Nazi Germany, while alleging that the exercise by the BJP through the Election Commission is aimed at snatching citizens' right to vote.

It also said all I.N.D.I.A. parties will take up the issue inside and outside Parliament even as it insisted that the EC will have to stop it until a meeting is held with all parties.

Addressing a press conference here, Trinamool Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien said they respect the EC as a constitutional body and it is not some temporary body that can do whatever they want. "They must follow the Constitution. Is this really the ECI? And we say this with due respect. It should not turn into a branch office of the BJP," he said.

He said the exercise will be conducted in West Bengal and other states after Bihar, and asked why this exercise is being carried out now. "We have evidence explaining why it is being done now. It is because the BJP’s latest internal survey for Bengal shows 46-49 seats for them if Assembly polls are held. In their desperation to change or attempt to change this, they are doing this," he said.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that this SIR is a backdoor entry for NRC. It is a sinister move. In 1935 under the Nazis, people were supposed to provide an ancestor pass, a proof of identity. Is this the new version of the Nazi ancestor pass? Where do we go from here?," O'Brien asked.

The 'ancestor pass' was one of the forms of the Aryan certificate and it documented the Aryan lineage of people in Nazi Germany.

Trinamool Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose claimed that the BJP has a "habit of misusing" central agencies to target the Opposition and through the EC, the BJP is targeting the Opposition. "On June 26, the ECI announced Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will be conducted for Bihar Assembly polls, but the real target is Bengal," she said.

"Do we all keep the birth certificates of our parents? What about the poor people and migrant labourers, how will they get this? This is a conspiracy. This is BJP’s strategy. This is an attempt to push forward BJP’s agenda. Through SIR, the BJP and the ECI will take away the voting rights of the citizens of India. Why has this been brought now?," she asked.

Senior Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale alleged that the purpose of this new exercise is to manipulate the Bengal elections for the BJP and then replicate this model all over India. "The EC must be forced to roll back and scrap this dangerous and sinister program which will be used for deleting voters and even snatching their citizenship," he added.