Bihar fighting for voting rights as India marks Independence Day: Tejashwi

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday said it was "ironical" that the people of Bihar were fighting to "protect" their right to vote when the country was celebrating Independence Day.

Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the assembly, issued an evocative "open letter", urging the people to take part in the 'Matdata Adhikar (voters' right) Yatra', which will be launched by Rahul Gandhi on August 17.

"Does Independence imply that we remain content with hoisting the tricolour at our homes and sway to the tunes of patriotic songs, oblivious to the fact that a dictatorial regime was throttling us? The cronies of the ruling dispensation have brought Bihar into a ridiculous situation," alleged the former deputy CM.

Referring to the anomalies in Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Yadav claimed "the names of those who are alive have been deleted from the voters' list in place of the deceased".

"Just spare a thought for a living person who may have been declared dead despite being alive. How would he or she be feeling today, hoisting the tricolour on Independence Day? We cannot imagine their pain and anguish," he said.

Incidentally, a number of persons declared as "dead" in the draft electoral rolls were produced before the Supreme Court earlier this week. At least two of them were from Raghopur, the assembly constituency represented by Yadav.

"Poor people have to fight for their right to one vote, while those aligned with the ruling dispensation are being allowed to have two votes," alleged the RJD leader, in an obvious reference to at least four prominent NDA leaders having been found to be in "possession" of more than one voter ID cards and their names figuring twice in electoral rolls.

The Election Commission has issued notices to senior BJP leaders Vijay Kumar Sinha and Nirmala Devi, Deputy CM and Mayor of Muzaffarpur, respectively, besides JD(U) MLC Dinesh Singh and his wife Veena Devi, the MP from Vaishali elected on a ticket of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan.

Yadav said, "The poor whose homes have been washed away in floods are unable to furnish their residence certificates. On the other hand, certificates are being issued in favour of dogs and cats."  Notably, SIR has seen a scramble for online applications for residence certificates. At many places, FIRs have been lodged by local administration against pranksters for applying in the name of dogs and cats, and even inanimate tractors and US President Donald Trump.

"We must gird up our loins, else these BJP-sponsored murderers of democracy will snatch away the poor's right to vote and re-establish their tyrannical, feudal regime in Bihar," alleged Yadav, who has been likening the 20 years old NDA rule in the state to a "rickety old car".

"Tejashwi Yadav, therefore, appeals to all residents of Bihar, on Independence Day, to step out of their homes and swear in the name of the Constitution that we shall take this crisis head on," said the letter.

Urging the people to take part in the 'Matdata Adhikar Yatra', he said a message should be sent loud and clear that Biharis will not yield an inch to "dictatorial and divisive forces".

The RJD leader is likely to join Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and other INDIA bloc heavyweights like Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, at Sasaram, for the launch of the 15-day-long yatra, which will culminate in the state capital.