'EC independent constitutional body not govt wing' Chirag flays oppn for stalling Parl over SIR

Patna, Aug 15 (PTI) Union minister Chirag Paswan on Friday lambasted the Congress-led opposition for "stalling" the proceedings of Parliament over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, and alleged that the 15-day yatra to be launched by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the issue was aimed at "fear mongering".
    The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president was responding to queries from journalists at his party’s office here after hoisting the tricolour on the occasion of Independence Day.
    "I am bewildered by the stance adopted by the opposition, which is insisting on a discussion on an exercise undertaken by the Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional body, not a wing of the government," said the Hajipur MP.
    "I have just one question for Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav. They should tell us which department they believe is competent to make a statement on an issue relating to elections. Which minister would justifiably reply on behalf of the government if a discussion is held on SIR? If they come up with a reply, I will myself urge my government to agree to a discussion," he added.
    Paswan alleged that the 'Matdata Adhikar Yatra', which will be launched by Gandhi at Sasaram on August 17, was aimed at "fear mongering and misleading the people".
    "This has been an old trick of the opposition. They had made such a big fuss when CAA was brought in. The law, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to those who have fled neighbouring countries because of religious persecution, has been around for some time. Not a single Muslim living in India has been deprived of his or her citizenship," he said.
    "In the Lok Sabha polls last year, the opposition once again took to rumour mongering, alleging that in his third consecutive term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was out to change the Constitution and scrap reservations for the deprived classes. Nothing of the sort has happened," he said.
    Paswan said that the PM was right in having stated in his Independence Day speech that the opposition has been speaking the language of our foreign adversaries, "who are out to rubbish our achievements by calling us a dead economy".
    "That too, at a time when we are confidently moving in the direction of building an 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India). This was the spirit that ensured our spectacular success in Operation Sindoor," he said.
    Notably, the "dead economy" jibe was made recently by US President Donald Trump, who has been claiming that the military stand-off with Pakistan that followed Operation Sindoor was halted upon his "intervention".
    Paswan also noted, "The Election Commission had never said that it would not take remedial action if people’s names got wrongfully deleted in the draft electoral rolls, published as part of SIR. It is a failure of the opposition parties that their booth-level agents have not been able to come up with claims and objections."
    "The exercise was very much needed. Many instances of a person's name appearing in more than one place have come up. How could this have been set right without undertaking a revision of electoral rolls?" he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)