Ahead of PM's 5th visit to Bihar, NDA, INDIA bloc at daggers drawn over SIR
The EC officials had on Sunday claimed that field-level functionaries of the ECI have found 'a large number of people' from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar during house-to-house visits made for the ongoing intensive review of the voters' list in Bihar.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, the Bihar Leader of Opposition, when asked about the presence of foreign illegal immigrants in electoral rolls as revealed by the poll body to media 'sutra', instantly remarked: 'I consider that 'sutra' as 'mutra' (urine, waste).'
Later, as the political atmosphere hot up, he accused the Election Commission of getting news planted through 'sources' and questioned the credibility of such sources on X and equated them with the 'rumours doing the rounds during Operation Sindoor about Indian forces capturing Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore and flashed in media relentlessly'.
'The EC, instead of coming forward itself, is trying to play its game under the cover of sources. I referred to 'Mutra' in reference to bad odour spreading waste,' he clarified, maintaining that the reports from ground pointed to a botched up exercise in the name of SIR.
NDA leaders, however, lashed at him for his comments.
'Nothing surprising for Tejashwi as such derogatory comments in front of media only he can do, as he is not educated and just speaks the script that is provided to him. If there is any drift from the script, he goes astray. What he said is an insult to media and he should publicly apologise for it,' said former Bihar BJP president and MP Sanjay Jaiswal.
JD-U spokesman Neeraj Kumar said that the kind of language Tejashwi used in public reflected his mental level. 'He must be using the same kind of language at home also. This is unfortunate that such a person is the leader of Opposition, but this time the people will show him the right place. The SIR issue is before the Supreme Court and the EC is doing its job, while the media is playing its role. Losing the sense of dignity and will hurt him badly,' he added.
He said that last week, Tejashwi was threatening media at a party function and exhorting his workers to boycott it. 'He was threatening that newspapers will not go to any village and now he is using such derogatory remarks. He is getting increasingly frustrated by the electoral prospect and so he is resorting to old manoeuvring ways,' he added.
BJP minister Nitin Navin said that the Opposition was opposing SIR simply for vote bank. 'They want to play the game of West Bengal and Kerala in Bihar also. NDA is with the exercise of the EC to weed out illegal voters. It is a welcome step to stop foreign nationals trying to avail voting facility in Bihar. They must be identified and sent back across the border,' he added.
But Tejashwi was defiant in face of the onslaught from NDA leaders. He said that the BJP was never interested in talking about issues confronting the masses, but believed in attempts to mislead. 'What wrong did I say? The kind of things they speak through 'sutra' (sources) are contradicted later. Spreading rumours is like 'mutra' (wastage). If there is no truth, that is wastage. Babas of BJP advise people to consume urine as something purifying. Is that purifying?' he added.
The ongoing SIR has become a thorny issue in Bihar, with the NDA and the INDIA bloc at daggers drawn as much as the two sections of media. Amid the EC claims of smooth conduct of ECI across the state, one section of media has been reporting detection of illegal immigrants enrolled as voters, while another is reporting difficulty of voters in enrolment a d fear of deletion of a large number of them. The matter is before the Supreme Court, which will hear the case next on July 28.
As the issue snowballs, all eyes are on the PM's visit on Friday, when he can again tear into the Opposition over it during his address at Gandhi Maidan (Motihari), as he did during his previous visits.
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