SIR ‘sinister attempt’ to turn democracy into dictatorship: Digvijaya Singh

Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise was a “sinister attempt” to turn Indian democracy into “dictatorship”.

Addressing Congress workers in Indore on Constitution Day, the senior Congress leader said the country was facing an alarming erosion of democratic values. The event was organised near the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar at Geeta Bhavan Square.

Calling the SIR being carried out in nine states and three Union territories “completely flawed,” Singh claimed it went beyond routine voter verification.

“A sinister attempt is being made to transform the Constitution from a democracy to a dictatorship. Our voters list is being tampered with. This tampering is not limited to the voters list alone. Even your citizenship is being questioned,” he alleged.

“Democracy is in danger in the country today. We have to decide whether the country should have autocracy or democracy,” he added, invoking historical parallels with dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini to underline the perils of one-man rule.

Singh also criticised the shift in responsibility under the current revision drive. He said that earlier, until 2003, it was the duty of the government and the EC to ensure every eligible citizen was added to the rolls, but now citizens were being asked to prove their voter status.

Questioning the EC’s decision to delete nearly 65 lakh names in Bihar ahead of the state elections, he asked, “Were these people not citizens of this country? Infiltrators are often talked about, but did they (the EC) find even a single infiltrator in Bihar?”

At the end of the programme, Singh administered an oath to party workers to uphold and protect the Constitution.

With PTI inputs