By Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Shaikh Azizur Rahman in West Bengal
India’s political opposition has warned that democracy is under threat amid a controversial exercise to revise the voter register across the country, which critics say will disenfranchise minority voters and entrench the power of the ruling Narendra Modi government.
An debate erupted in India’s parliament last week over the special intensive revision (SIR) process, which is taking place in nine states and three union territories, in one of the biggest revisions of the country’s electoral roll in decades.
Ostensibly a bureaucratic exercise to update the lists of citizens eligible to vote, India’s opposition leaders have instead alleged the SIR is being used by the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) as an underhand “citizenship survey”. State leaders have claimed it is being used to disenfranchise poor and minority voters – particularly Muslims – as “illegal immigrants” and manipulate the electoral roll to benefit the Modi government.
The BJP openly embraces a Hindu nationalist ideology seeking to reshape India from a secular state into a Hindu rashtra, or Hindu nation. During the party’s 11 years in power, its policies and discourse have sharply polarised the nation along religious lines fuelling a surge in anti-Muslim hostility. The BJP has gained unprecedented power over state institutions and its ruling alliance governs 21 out of 28 states.
In states such as West Bengal, critics have alleged that it is primarily Muslims facing the threat of being disenfranchised and deported by SIR, while Bangladeshi Hindus living illegally in India say they are being assured of citizenship.
Speaking in parliament last week, Rahul Gandhi, a leader of Congress, India’s largest opposition party, alleged that SIR was part of a wider project by the BJP to conduct “vote chori [theft]” and destroy the longstanding integrity of India’s democratic elections, which have been held since independence.
“When you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India,” said Gandhi, who in recent months has claimed to have substantial evidence of foul play among the voting processes in multiple state elections, which has been repeatedly denied by the BJP.
This story was originally published in theguardian.com. Read the full story here.