BENGALURU: Political activist and National Coordinator, Bharat Jodo Campaign, Yogendra Yadav on Saturday said Karnataka, which in many ways has been a beacon for the country, will also be the guide in the fight against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral list being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
“Who is being harmed by the SIR? The poorest, the migrant workers; if they migrate for work, their names are not there, they have been removed from their native places. Anytime tomorrow, you can say that you are not a citizen of this country. More than two crore people have already been thrown out of the voter list. Now it is the turn of Karnataka and others. When all this is over, about ten crore voters will have been thrown out,” he said at a seminar on ‘SIR: What has happened in 13 states? What needs to be done in Karnataka?’ organised by the Jagruta Karnataka Sangathan.
“Some people say all these ten crore people are not anti-BJP. When the bottom ten crore of the country is removed, 6 out of 10 of them will be anti-BJP. Even if the BJP loses a small amount of votes in this, the entire foundation of the rest will collapse, thus the party will benefit. Only people of this country can do something now. Who are the BLOs? school teachers, anganwadi workers, they should be made aware of this. Care should be taken that objections do not come from outsiders,” he said.
He advised that citizens must be alert for the next few months which will be a test of universal suffrage. “After India’s glorious freedom movement, we got universal suffrage equally for everyone. I, the prime minister, Ambani-Adani all have one vote. But, we are going to lose it,” he said.
He remarked that Karnataka is one of the most aware states in India and a beacon for the country in social justice.