CM Revanth for nationwide stir against SIR

Hyderabad: Drawing a parallel between the historic “Simon go back” movement during the British rule and the ongoing political opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has called for a nationwide “SIR go back” movement.

While participating in a programme in Delhi on Monday, Reddy alleged that the SIR exercise was being used to disenfranchise poor and vulnerable sections. He claimed that the BJP-led Centre was attempting to use the Election Commission for political purposes. Similar allegations have been made by the Chief Minister in recent weeks, including that voter deletions could affect Congress supporters and vulnerable communities.

The TG Chief Minister claimed that around 13 crore names had been deleted till date from electoral rolls across the country and alleged that the process was being undertaken with the 2029 elections in mind. He claimed that a total of 20 crore votes could eventually be removed.

Reddy also questioned what he described as the “concentration of key Union portfolios in leaders from northern States”. He recalled that during the tenures of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister, important portfolios such as Defence, Finance, and Home Affairs were allocated to leaders from different regions. He asked why, in the present political dispensation, major portfolios were not being assigned to more leaders from southern India.

Responding to a question about the Civil Aviation portfolio, Reddy said the Home Affairs portfolio was more significant from his perspective; for, it included the administrative control of agencies such as the CBI and ED.

Alluding to the need to rise above politics, Reddy alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not extended support to Telangana’s development up to the same level that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had extended to Gujarat when Modi was the state’s Chief Minister.

Reddy claimed that approvals relating to Telangana’s Metro Rail expansion, national highways, and the Regional Ring Road had faced delays. He alleged that the 360-km Regional Ring Road proposal had remained pending for around two years.

The Chief Minster also alleged that a semiconductor project was shifted to Gujarat at the last moment. These claims were made by Reddy as part of his criticism of the Centre’s biased approach towards Telangana.

Reddy also raised concerns over the proposed delimitation of parliamentary constituencies. The Chief Ministe said: “In politics, Delhi takes you seriously only when you have numerical strength; otherwise, you may not even be allowed through the gates.

That is why I am proposing a simple solution. In 1976, the number of Lok Sabha seats was frozen at 543. When the Centre promoted family planning, the southern states implemented it more effectively, while several northern states did not, resulting in demographic imbalances.

The seat freeze was subsequently continued to address these concerns. Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee later extended the freeze for another 25 years. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi extends the freeze by another 25 years in 2026, it would address the concerns being raised by smaller states”.

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Venkateshwarlu Kolishetty

Venkateshwarlu Kolishetty