BJP govt carrying out SIR to hide its failures: Akhilesh

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Akhilesh said: “The BJP government is conducting the SIR to hide its failures. We appeal to everyone to register their votes and prevent them from being cancelled. Otherwise, the BJP is preparing to take away the constitutional rights championed by Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. If the right to vote is taken away, reservations will also end. All other rights guaranteed by the Constitution will be snatched.”

Claiming that the BJP-led central government was carrying out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to hide its failures, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP was preparing to deprive people of their constitutional rights and reservation benefits.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav (File)

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Akhilesh said: “The BJP government is conducting the SIR to hide its failures. We appeal to everyone to register their votes and prevent them from being cancelled. Otherwise, the BJP is preparing to take away the constitutional rights championed by Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. If the right to vote is taken away, reservations will also end. All other rights guaranteed by the Constitution will be snatched.”

“The Election Commission’s job is to ensure the voting rights of all citizens and to see that no one’s vote is cancelled. But whatever is happening is exactly the opposite. Under pressure from the BJP government, the Election Commission is deleting votes. Millions of people were deprived of their right to vote during the SIR in Bihar. Elections are not scheduled this year in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, so why such haste?” Akhilesh Yadav asked.

On the issue of alleged harassment and political vendetta, Akhilesh said the BJP government’s focus was not on providing food and employment but on harassing people by implicating them in false cases. “Many people have been denied justice for years. Mohammad Azam Khan, Gayatri Prajapati, and Ramakant Yadav are in jail. Many Samajwadi Party and PDA members are facing injustice, and false cases are being filed against them,” he said.

On the row over Sanchar Saathi mobile app, the SP chief said: “In today’s times, if the government uses an app to spy, no one will accept it. It violates people’s privacy and could be misused. How can those with a history of being informants stop spying? Freedom of expression was already being curtailed under the BJP government. Now, even conversations related to family, relationships, friendships, and business will be under the vulture-like gaze of BJP leaders and their allies.”