Govt using SIR to divide people, distract and deflect from its failures: Derek O' Brien

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) All India Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O' Brien on Tuesday accused the government of dividing people and using the electoral roll revision exercise, SIR, to distract and deflect from its failures.

Participating in a discussion on election reforms, O' Brien also alleged that the ruling dispensation was flouting the model code of conduct, while asserting that already rules are there but the issue is in their implementation.

Referring to home minister Amit Shah's remark in Lok Sabha to continue "detect, delete, deport" as the NDA government's policy, O' Brien said actual 'Ds' are not 'detect, delete, deport', but are 'divide, distract and deflect'.

He accused the government of dividing people and "polarise the electorate on the basis of religion and language".

"You speak Bengali in some other states, you are targeted as being Bangladeshis. That's divide," O' Brien noted.

Referring to the Supreme Court allowing the entry of a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old child into India, months after they were deported to Bangladesh on "humanitarian grounds" earlier this month, he said, "Then you (government) illegally deport, but sometimes the pregnant woman is brought back to her country as a proud woman." O' Brien further said, "To distract from your own failures, you come up with a whole lot of other distractions... and deflect (from the failures)." Citing the issue of infiltration, he asked, "The big thing is infiltrators... who is the in-charge of the border? Which chief ministers? No. It is the home minister of this country." Accusing the ruling dispensation of flouting the model code of conduct, O' Brien said, "One campaign is on TV, say the Prime Minister of India is campaigning, the neighbouring campaign is showing the byte that's where the voting is going on." "Let us play by the rules...rules are there, but are we following the rules?" he asked, adding, "When one election commissioner objected, he was asked to resign." He also reiterated the demand for government funding of elections as part of electoral reforms.

Participating in the discussion, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said SIR is meant to strengthen democracy, and there is no 'vote chori', which is a false narrative run by the Congress.

Asserting that the Election Commission is an independent body, he said it is unfair to make allegations against it.

Congress member Imran Pratapgarhi pointed out the difference in financial status of the BJP and Opposition parties, and said in the absence of a level-playing field, free and fair elections are not possible.

Banshilal Gurjar (BJP) countered the opposition allegations against SIR and said Bihar is an example of how it can lead to free and fair elections. PTI RKL HVA