Jharkhand became the first state Tuesday to pass a resolution in the state Assembly against the Election Commission (EC)’s ongoing Special Intensive revision (SIR) exercise in poll-bound Bihar, with the ruling Jhrakhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) calling it an exercise that would “exclude large sections of voters”.
Babulal Marandi, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly as well as the state BJP chief, took a stand against the resolution, demanding an SIR in Jharkhand as well. He has alleged that the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government was attempting to alter the state’s demography by granting voting rights to “Bangladeshi infiltrators” and “Rohingya Muslims”.
In an interview with The Indian Express,Marandi speaks about the “need for SIR”, the Congress’s “vote theft” allegations, and “demographic changes” in Jharkhand. Excerpts:
You have been demanding an SIR in Jharkhand too. Why?
The SIR should be conducted across the country. What the Election Commission is doing is right. Today, the JMM and the Congress are protesting against it solely so that Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingya Muslims are not struck off from the electoral rolls – they want more to be added.
You have claimed discrepancies in the voter rolls in Jharkhand, but the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has passed a resolution against an SIR in the state. Your comment?
Between 2014 and 2019, the increase in the number of voters across the nation was 9.3%. In Jharkhand, during the same period, the increase was 6.2%.
Now come to the period between 2019 and 2024. Voters increased by 10.1% nationally. In Jharkhand, there was comparatively an immense increase of 16.7%. Who was in government during this period? The JMM-Congress-RJD were in power. This is a poor state and a lot of citizens go to other states for work. What accounts for this increase of 16.7% in Jharkhand?
When the SIR happens here, fake voters will be identified and will not be allowed to be added (to the rolls). This is why they (JMM-led alliance) have been protesting against the SIR, and even passed a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha against it. Their concern is vote bank politics. They are not concerned about the nation, about Jharkhand.
Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi has alleged that there has been “vote theft” in several elections and has blamed the EC and the BJP. What is your response?
Do not limit your view of Rahul Gandhi to this. (He is) trying to trigger anarchy in the country or supporting those sitting in protest for that purpose – be it Pegasus, farmers’ protest or the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). When everything else failed, they started this ‘vote chori’ bit.
Earlier, there was a problem with EVMs. I believe that he (Rahul) may well carry the Constitution with him, but he does not have even an iota of faith in it. Some of our leaders have used the term ‘urban Naxal’. I want to say that these people are not urban Naxals, but political Naxals. What do they want to do by trying to prove that the Election Commission is dishonest across the country? They are saying that the number of voters have increased… If so, write to the Election Commission. Instead, you are travelling the entire country…
In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged the issue of demographic change. Is this a concern in Jharkhand?
The 16.7% increase has happened across Jharkhand. It is happening everywhere as per plan. Anyone can make this out by seeing the voter lists which are public. Sahibganj and Pakur, which are next to West Bengal, for instance, saw this increase to begin with. In a city like Simdega, which is next to Odisha, there has been an increase of 78% in their population. This is just one example. We have worked to ascertain this increase across Jharkhand and realised that this must be happening in the entire country.
If Rahul Gandhi actually wanted the right thing to be done, he should sit across the table and give solutions to rectify errors.
During his recent lecture series, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also touched upon the issue of conversion. What is your take?
We keep coming across instances of people trapping women by changing their names, luring them with monetary considerations and forcibly converting them on a daily basis. Many have married into different religions, no one has a problem with that… If you truly love someone, why force them to convert to your religion, or put checks on what they eat? If you love someone, you need to respect their religious beliefs, otherwise it is not love.