BJP using SIR as a tool of electoral genocide, says Prakash Raj

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Actor and social activist Prakash Raj. File | Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G

“BJP is using the Election Commission of India’s Systematic Intensive Revision as a tool of electoral genocide. It has deleted 13 crore voters, effectively declaring them non-citizens in their own country. This needs to be opposed till the whole exercise is scrapped and names of all voters are restored,’’ Prakash Raj, actor and activist, said in Dharwad on Sunday.

He was participating in the ‘Pratirodha rally against fascism’, organised by several organisations. It was held in the Buddha Rakhita residential school grounds on Saundatti road.

“Already, over 13 crore voters have been obliterated. This has been done under existing laws, using government agencies. But we should realise that these are not just numbers. They are human beings with rights. Their legal lives have been ended by SIR. However, it is common knowledge that a murderer is caught not while committing the offence, but while destroying evidence. This is what I want to tell the Mahaprabhu,’’ he said.

“A lot of people think that SIR is a part of the BJP strategy of winning polls. But it is much more than that. It is darker and sinister move. It is not just a tool to ensure unending power to the BJP. SIR is nothing but an attempt to kill the constitution and all the rights and freedoms it guarantees. On the surface, it is a tool to make sure that only those who support the BJP’s ideology should be allowed to vote and the others should be struck off the rolls. It is not just that. They want to divide the whole society into two and push it back to the dark ages. SIR is a tool to implement the Manusmruti that fixes the social positions of various communities. It does not wish for the social mobility of Dalits and Adivasis. This is what the ruling dispensation is trying to achieve with SIR. That is why I say BJP’s conspiracy is only visible on the top. But the real villain is the RSS. It is the Brahma Rakshasa in this whole game. We need to understand this and carry on the fight against tyranny and fascism,’’ he said.

“For over a decade, there were fear that the ruling BJP was running a dictatorial regime by conquering our minds. Whenever there was a sign of some protest and people gathering to express dissent, the rulers would send a bulldozer to end the protests. But the tide is changing. The BJP – Sangh Parivar thought that they had purchased the media. But a woman journalist has exposed their misdeeds now and that has shocked them. The cockroach protest in New Delhi changed the way the country thinks. It proved that the younger generation are responsible citizens of this country and need to be taken seriously. They have used both the modern day weapons of social media and the protests on the streets. We should realise that too. This is not the time for speeches. This is the time for coming to the streets and expressing resistance. As you can see protests are erupting across the country. It is because everyone knows who is the thief and who is the liar. We have to think about this every moment. We have to be the voice of the voiceless. Otherwise it will all be over in a moment,’’ he said.

Writer Kum Veerabhadrappa said the choice of the venue was significant as the school was established by Dr B R Ambedkar’s wife Ramabai Ambedkar in 1929. B K Hariprasad, Congress president, journalist Dinesh Aminmattu, theatre personality B Suresh, and others also spoke.

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