Opposition walks tightrope balancing SIR protests and campaign against Nitish govt

New Delhi: The I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Bihar is taking steps to ensure that the protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls would not derail its campaign against Nitish Kumar-led NDA government on law and order and economic difficulties faced by people.

Leaders said the sudden announcement of the SIR had taken the Opposition, popularly known as the ‘Maha Gadbandhan’ (Grand Alliance), by surprise and forced them to scramble for a strategy to counter it while ensuring that the exercise is carried out where its supporters suffer.

At the same time, sources said there is apprehension within the bloc that the focus on the SIR exercise rolled out by the Election Commission could impact their ongoing campaign against the JD(U)-BJP government on various fronts, including law and order, jobs and increasing debts among other issues.

Source said the bloc was planning to unveil its ‘guarantees’, which specially targets women, in the next two months and there is a conscious effort to ensure that such initiatives are not eclipsed by the SIR protest. They said the SIR is ‘vote-bandi’ on the lines of ‘note-bandi’ that troubled the common man.

The Opposition parties supporting the general strike called by 10 central trade unions have made it clear that the SIR will be one of the focal issues during protests on July 9. They are also planning to hold more protests against the SIR as they fear that it could "disenfranchise" the poor and migrant workers.

They said the SIR would also add to the campaign around the Constitution, as they claim it “targets the right to vote".

Some leaders also see a parallel to RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosaballe’s statement seeking a review on the inclusion of the terms ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble of the Constitution with RSS Sarsanghchalak’s remarks on reservation during 2015 Assembly elections. The leaders are of the view that these remarks should not be seen in isolation.

While SIR has been added as a new component of the campaign, the parties are making sure that they do not lose sight of the narrative that they are trying to build against Nitish and the NDA on social and economic justice front. The parties are also countering the ‘jungle raj’ jibe at them.

The parties were quick to attack the government over the killing of businessman Gopal Khemka in Patna on Saturday to claim that there is ‘goonda raj’ in the state where Nitish has been claiming that he has arrested lawlessness.

On Sunday, Leader of Opposition Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said Khemka’s murder has proven that the BJP and Nitish together have turned Bihar into “India’s crime capital” where “crime has become the new normal”.

He added, “every murder, every loot, every bullet - is a cry for change. Now is the time for a new Bihar - where there is no fear, only progress. This time, the vote is not just to change the government, but to save Bihar.”

The Opposition leaders believe that Nitish and the NDA cannot harp on the ‘jungle raj’ theme during elections as law and order has “deteriorated” in Bihar and atrocities against Dalits and the poor have “increased”. They also claim that the “silence” of LJP (Ramvilas) and HAM on Dalit atrocities have "exposed" them and would work against the NDA.