Bihar SIR: BJP accuses Opposition of attempting to create anarchy for political gain

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday (August 11, 2025) accused the Opposition, particularly the Congress party and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, of attempting to create distrust in democratic processes, and anarchy in the country by undermining Constitutional institutions through misinformation for political gain.

Addressing a press conference, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Mr. Gandhi, who always claimed to defend the Constitution, had in reality been indulging in the “most anti-Constitutional” activities.

“The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ list has today become a proven system across the globe. SIR is not happening for the first time, it is an exercise carried out by the Election Commission continuously in all the States and at the national level since Independence,” Mr. Pradhan said.

On Monday, Opposition parties took out a protest march against the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.

“In the past, especially in 2014, 2019, and 2024, the Congress party lost elections in several States one after the other, which has left them directionless. They don’t have any concrete issue to raise. First they tried to make EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) an issue...they lied about Rafale, and then they supported China on the issue of border dispute,” Mr. Pradhan said.

Accusing the Congress of questioning the Indian Army and attempting to dent the country’s sovereignty, the Union Minister said the party was gradually displaying arrogance while acting “with a well thought out strategy to create instability in the country”.

“If you [the Congress] win the election, everything is well and good. But, if you lose the election, you claim irregularities...I thank the Indian media for fact-checking and exposing every lie of Rahul Gandhi based on evidence in the past few days,” he said, alleging that the Congress and its allies were only interested in ‘vote bank politics’. “They aspire for political gain by making infiltrators voters,” said Mr. Pradhan.

The Union Minister criticised the Opposition for attacking the Election Commission of India (ECI) without any evidence, and alleged that the Leader of the Opposition was using the “language of rival countries”.

“I again appeal to the Congress party and the entire Opposition that they should raise the issues in Parliament...they pushed for a debate on Operation Sindoor, but when the discussion took place in Parliament, they did not have any concrete arguments to put forth...as an Opposition, it is expected of them to play their role in the national interest,” Mr. Pradhan said.

On Mr. Gandhi’s allegations concerning the electoral rolls, Mr. Pradhan said he should submit all the details through an affidavit, as sought by the ECI. “Instead of doing that, you are trying to create unrest in the country,” he said.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged in a post on social media platform X that Mr. Gandhi was acting “under pressure from anti-national forces”. “He has defamed the Election Commission, Supreme Court, and the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor General]. He raised doubts about the valour of the army, and when the army presented the facts, he was silenced. He earlier questioned EVMs without any evidence, abandoned the issue after the Supreme Court’s rebuke, and has now moved on to SIR,” Mr. Chouhan said.

Mr. Chouhan asked the Opposition if the Congress’s wins in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh were due to irregularities in the Voters Lists; if governments had been formed in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Jharkhand due to mistakes by the ECI; and whether Mr. Gandhi, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav had also won elections due to the irregularities in the Voters Lists.