The beginning of Day 2 of the Parliament's Winter Session was marked by protests and demonstrations as the Opposition members kept up the heat on the government over issues of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and electoral reforms.
Several lawmakers, from the Opposition parties, stood in the Parliament premises, before the beginning of the session, holding placards and banners and demanding urgent discussion in the House over ECI’s "biased and partisan" voter verification drive, currently ongoing in 12 states and union territories (UTs).
Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led the stir, holding the government accountable for "voter fraud" and "electoral rolls manipulation" under the guise of the SIR exercise.
Sonia Gandhi also joined the protest. The banners displayed by Opposition MPs read -- “End SIR, stop vote chori”, suggesting that they are unrelenting in their demands over discussion on SIR and electoral reforms, an issue that led to the washout of the first day of Parliament.
Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking to scribes, said that their fight against injustice and attempt to “silence the democracy” will continue. The SIR, described by ECI as an essential “voter purge” exercise ahead of elections, has left the government and Opposition sharply divided – the reflection of which was visible on Day 1 of Parliament.
Opposition maintains that the SIR is nothing but backdoor tactics to further voter fraud and vote chori in elections and is being pursued at the behest of the ruling BJP to benefit it, a claim dismissed by the latter as “a figment of imagination”. With the Opposition upping the ante on SIR and the government not yielding to their demands, the short Winter Session risks getting marred by altercation and confrontation over legislative business.
Notably, this year's winter session is one of the shortest, from December 1 to December 19. The government has planned to introduce 13 legislative bills and one financial bill during this session, having 15 sittings over a period of 19 days. Opposition has armed itself with many issues, including Delhi’s Red Fort blast, air pollution in Delhi-NCR; however, SIR remains the most potent topic on which it wants to corner the government.