Opposition protest stalls Lok Sabha over SIR, again
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The Lok Sabha was stalled yet again on Monday as the Opposition continued to protest the deletion of 6.5 million voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.Speaker Om Birla's effort at a meeting to break the deadlock by conveying the government's argument - that there was "no precedent" of the House discussing the constitutional body Election Commission of India's conduct - didn't cut ice as the Opposition maintained that the mass deletion of Bihar voters through SIR "itself is an unprecedented situation" that warranted urgent discussion.When the House convened at 11 am, Opposition members pressed for their notices for immediate discussion on SIR, the deletion of 6.5 million Bihar voters and the plan to extend the SIR to other states.As the Speaker disallowed their demand, the Opposition protest intensified with sloganeering. After the customary appeals for peace, Birla adjourned the House till 2 pm after saying he would meet some floor leaders at his office.It is learnt that at the meeting Birla repeated the argument of there being no precedent of discussing the ECI.Congress chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh is learnt to have responded by arguing that there was no precedent of such mass deletion of voters from the electoral rolls and of possibility of the same happening in other states. Therefore, Suresh maintained, the government had no procedural ground to oppose a House discussion about "an unprecedented development" by citing absence of "precedent", people familiar with the matter said.
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Indian Express
10 minutes ago
- Indian Express
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The Hindu
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Later, K went on to become an academic, and Munna joined the IAS to fulfil the 'dreams of nation-building along Gandhi and Nehru's vision of a modern yet kind, considerate nation which was also determined to alter its old self'. A gradual distortion Both Munna and K are witness to the gradual distortion of this vision. The landslide victory of an ardent admirer of Godse and a terror accused from Bhopal in the Lok Sabha election serves as a take-off point for anguished reflections on the distressing developments over the last decade. In this period, not only have the leaders of the national movement been vilified, but there have also been concerted efforts to destroy the vision of 'modern yet considerate nation' that inspired not only Munna and K but many, many more. This is most frighteningly evident in the officially sanctioned propagation of lies, the normalisation of violence, the apathy towards mob lynchings, and the heartlessness on full display during the COVID-19 pandemic. Munna himself succumbs to COVID-19 while helping its victims and leaves the task of editing and publishing his reflections on contemporary India with 'Gandhi as a moral compass' to K, who does it with his comments at places, thus continuing his conversation with his friend, who is physically no more. Also Read | RSS and Gandhi: Sangh Parivar's belated attempts to appropriate national heroes in quest for legitimacy Munna puts down his reflections in words, because 'We can't stretch Gandhi. He is no plastic figure. His metal and stone busts are mere selfie spots now. Words alone can protect him from predators.' In the age of visuals dominating all kinds of communication, this faith in words is poignantly edifying. Gandhi is a moral compass because his experiments with truth 'could hardly be all about truth in the common sense of fidelity to facts'; these experiments led him to 'playful reversal'—from God is truth to Truth is God. 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