Sambit Patra accuses Congress of spreading canards on SIR

BJP National Spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra has accused the Congress of trying to spread canards and confusion in the country about the SIR process through false propaganda.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Mr. Patra alleged that the Congress was upset with the SIR as its vote bank had been cut.

Strongly denying the Congress’ claims and the numbers cited by it regarding genuine voters having lost their voting rights in the SIR process, he said such allegations were part of a false propaganda campaign. He argued that the entire country would have witnessed serious agitation if genuine voters had lost their constitutional rights in such large numbers.

Stating that about three crore persons had not responded to notices issued by the Election Commission during the SIR process, Mr. Patra alleged that many of them had chosen not to reply as they were infiltrators from Bangladesh who did not want their identity to be revealed because of the SIR process.

He alleged that the Congress was opposing the removal of names of even those who were dead or had registered their names in more than one place because it wanted to indulge in bogus voting in their names.

Pointing out that the country had witnessed a total of 12 SIR exercises so far, including the present one, he said such a process was not new.

Referring to Congress protesters dancing their way to file a complaint about alleged vote chori, he remarked: “Does anyone dance while filing a complaint if anything has been stolen from their house?”

He also ridiculed Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi for daring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in a public debate with him. Alleging that Mr. Gandhi had made it a habit not to sit in the Lok Sabha for more than five or six minutes, he remarked that only those who cannot sit in Parliament for a longer time seek a debate on the street rather than inside Parliament.

“If at all Mr. Rahul Gandhi wants to have a public debate, he should have it with his own allies,” he remarked.

He said the BJP had launched a counter-campaign to create public awareness about what it termed the political intent behind the Congress’ campaign against the SIR and to place facts before the people.