Public movement needed against SIR: Shivasundar
Bengaluru: Columnist and activist Shivasundar has called for the formation of a public movement against the Special Intensive Revision of the Electoral Roll (SIR) being carried out by the Election Commission of India in 12 states. Karnataka is also expected to begin the SIR process by February next year, he warned.
Speaking as the chief guest at a special discussion on SIR organised by the Muslim Muttahida Mahaz at the BIFT auditorium in Darussalam building, Queens Road, Bengaluru, on Saturday, Shivasundar said that preparations must begin immediately to resist what he termed a potentially harmful exercise.
He stated that the coming three months are crucial for ground-level mobilisation: adding names to the voter list, ensuring documents are in order, creating public awareness against SIR, and being ready for protests if required.
Referring to Bihar, he said that when SIR was implemented there, Aadhaar was initially not accepted as a valid identity document, which would have resulted in nearly two crore people losing their voting rights. It was only due to street protests that the Supreme Court intervened and directed the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar, he added.
As a result, among 65 lakh voters whose names were removed, 35 lakh were able to vote again because Aadhaar was recognised. “This is the strength of public struggle — it influences the judiciary,” Shivasundar asserted.
He pointed to previous mass movements, including nationwide protests against CAA, NRC and NPR, the farmers’ movement, and demonstrations across Karnataka after the Mangaluru police firing, saying that several states later passed resolutions due to public pressure.
Shivasundar stressed that voter records must be corrected at the booth level. He alleged that in Madhya Pradesh, RSS workers are assisting Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in deciding whose names are included or deleted from the electoral rolls. “Here, even if we ask Congress workers to help, they say there is no cadre,” he remarked.
He urged that in addition to the 11 documents listed by the Election Commission, available IDs such as Aadhaar, bank passbooks, NREGA cards and ration cards should also be accepted.
The programme was attended by advocate Vinay Sreenivasa, Muslim Muttahida Mahaz convener Masood Abdul Khader, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind state president Dr Muhammad Saad Belagami, secretary Maulana Yusuf Kanni, Maulana Ejaz Ahmed Nadvi, Maulana Zulfikar Noori and others.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
