CPI opposes special scrutiny of electoral roll in Bihar, says it's causing 'unimaginable tortures'

The Communist Party of India on Friday demanded that the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll in Bihar should be stopped, saying it is causing ''unimaginable tortures and suffering'' to people.

Several opposition parties have raised concerns over the timing of the scrutiny by the Election Commission, contending that over two crore voters of the state may be disenfranchised by this mammoth exercise being done just ahead of the assembly elections.

''What is this intensive revision? You must go through the conditions which the Election Commission is placing (on people),'' CPI General Secretary D Raja said at a press conference here following a meeting of the party's national council held from July 1 to 3.

Opposing the poll panel's move, he pointed out that Bihar has a large number of people who migrate elsewhere for work, and the state faces heavy rains and floods in July and August.

''The way the Election Commission is asking to produce documents, including parents' birth certificates and other things, it is putting people into very unimaginable torture and suffering,'' he said.

Pointing out that the poll panel has made it clear that it would stick to its position and continue with the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls, the CPI leader said, ''We have our own disagreement with the Election Commission (on this).'' As the CPI marks its 100th year, Raja took a dig at the RSS, which is also set to mark its centenary, and questioned what their contribution was in the struggle for Independence.

''We have been celebrating our centenary throughout the country because our history is a glorious one. Our party was at the forefront of the freedom movement, fighting against British colonial rule, French colonial rule, and Portuguese colonial rule. And now, RSS claims it was also formed in 1925,'' he said.

''I can challenge Mohan Bhagwat or PM Narendra Modi. What was the role played by RSS when we were fighting against colonial rulers? What was RSS doing? Now they make big claims.'' He alleged the RSS has become ''aggressive'' in attacking the Constitution.

About the recent statement of RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on the Preamble of the Constitution, the CPI leader said, ''Secularism and socialism are part of our Constitution.'' Hosabale had called for reviewing the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Constitution, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar.

About Gaza, the CPI national council noted that the situation is getting worse, Raja said. ''The Israeli forces are intensifying their attack on the Palestinian people... How long can this continue?'' ''And Mr Modi, now he is on a foreign tour, but he keeps referring to the global South. What does he mean by the global South? Since the days of Mahatma Gandhi, India has been standing with the people of Palestine... Now the Modi government abstains whenever there is a resolution (on the issue) in the United Nations,'' he said.

The CPI extended its full support to the strike called on July 9 against the labour codes. Its national council also took note of the natural calamity in Himachal Pradesh and urged the Union government to extend all possible relief.

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