Mehbooba Mufti writes to Rahul, urges him to raise ‘targeting' of Muslims in Parliament
In her letter, Mufti said that the Muslims of India chose to remain in the country due to their faith in the Congress leadership and it was Gandhi's 'responsibility to defend them'. 'The Muslims who chose to remain in India during Partition did so because of the faith they had in the secular leadership of the Congress, from Mahatma Gandhi to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Today, as the bearer of that legacy, the responsibility falls on your shoulders to uphold and defend the secular and democratic values enshrined in our Constitution,' the letter read.
Pointing out that issues like the horrific Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor and other critical security matters were expected to dominate discussions in Parliament, the PDP chief wrote, 'I sincerely hope the Opposition, especially the INDIA bloc, raises the growing concern of Muslim victimisation across the country.'
Referring to the 'targeting' of Muslims and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, Mufti said the community is being pushed into 'desperate situations'. 'Under the pretext of targeting 'Bangladeshis' and 'Rohingyas', Muslims are being pushed into increasingly desperate situations. Disturbing media reports have even suggested that some were forced into the sea in attempts to expel them from India. As you rightly highlighted during your visit to Assam, the large-scale demolition of thousands of Muslim homes is deeply troubling. The latest development the SIR being conducted in Bihar appears to be yet another systematic effort to dispossess, disempower, and ultimately disenfranchise Muslims, effectively erasing their presence both symbolically and literally,' she said in the letter.
The former CM said while India rightly expresses rage over the treatment of Hindu minority in Pakistan and Bangladesh, there is 'complete silence' when Muslims are targeted in our country. 'There is an unsettling silence, a fear that prevents many from speaking up. As a politician from one of the only Muslim-majority regions that chose to join the Indian Union largely due to the vision and secular character of your great-grandfather, I feel extremely helpless at times. Placing great hope in your leadership I urge you to continue speaking up for a minority that is being steadily marginalised and pushed to the fringes of Indian society,' she said.
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The Hindu
7 minutes ago
- The Hindu
SIR of electoral rolls is 'impractical and filled with irregularities': suggest citizen's panel after public hearing in Patna
After organizing a day-long public hearing on July 21 in Patna on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls process in Bihar, a citizen's panel comprising several groups on Saturday (July 26, 2025) called the exercise of election commission on SIR of electoral roll as an 'assault on the rights of the people of their franchise and suggested that the ongoing exercise must be stopped'. In their nine-points suggestion the panel also called SIR as 'impractical and filled with irregularities'. 'The public hearing held on July 21 in Patna also had participation of 250 people from 19 different districts of the state and a panel of over a dozen respected citizens to know the ground realities over ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in the state. The report has been released of that public hearing which advocated to stop the process (SIR) which has been an 'attack on constitutional rights of people'. The report highlighted some nine points in Hindi. The SIR of electoral roll process is 'impractical' 'It seems impractical to upload millions of documents and verify it in such a short period of time and above all, such process is happening when flood hits Bihar and people in rural areas are busy in agricultural activities. Even the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are not properly trained on ground level', highlights the panel suggestions. Under paragraph of 'shortcut', it further says, 'under pressure of workload and time, the BLOs are uploading (enumeration) forms without required documents and the forms are also being filled in haste with only aadhar numbers and mobile numbers and even without signature of people. Several people said that when they check online (about status of their enumeration forms) it said their forms have already been filled'. 'Similarly irregularities too have been seen in filling up the forms as to follow the process in such a short time is so difficult, the rules to fill the form are not being followed. People are not getting receipt of their forms filled up and BLOs are not being able to visit every household. False signatures are being done on the forms and talks of bribe given too have come from several places', said the panel. Under its fourth paragraph, it said, 'fake and untrust worthy information are being given as the process of collecting information on such a huge level are being done in utter haste. Later, people will face problem and this only harms the very aim of the process'. Under 'inconvenience and harassment' section, the report highlights that 'several people said that they had to forgo with their daily wage as they had to give time in getting their (enumeration) form filled and even several people said that they had to pay ₹ 100 for getting their form filled'. 'People do not have even a single of 11 documents the election commission required. In a survey done by Bharat Jodo Abhiyan 37% people do not have the require documents. In another survey done this figure was put as 33%S. So the voters between 33-37% do not have required documents and they could be left behind. It is understood that such a large number of voters cannot be overlooked', it said further. Under 'boycott' paragraph it is said that the biggest fear among people is not their name included in the voter's list. 'The right to franchise is a constitutional right and no one could be disenfranchised solely on the basis of that they donot have documents. It is for the first time that voters are being asked for documents instead of following the established process. Then on which basis names of voters are either being deleted or added by the Electoral Registration Officer (EROs)? The SIR process gives power to EROs to either delete or add names of voters on their whims which could easily be misused'. Similarly, it is feared that because of unlimited power in their process of SIR of electoral rolls people from a particular community, caste, constituency could be targeted to for disenfranchisement. 'Several people in the public hearing put their views which suggested that the rules are not being followed similarly everywhere, some people are treated easily while, some with strictness. In the next step of filling the forms, danger of deleting and adding votes would be more flagrant when the required documents would be solicited (at maximum places only the forms are being taken, not the documents so far)'. The women have to face more hardship because they are told to bring documents from their parents' house. At many places in border areas (seemanchal areas) women from neighboring country Nepal are married and living in India for years and exercising their votes as well but now their names could be struck off'. In the conclusive paragraph the report of people's hearing said that the SIR process has so many 'drawbacks that it will have far reaching results'. 'There is strong chances that people may have different names at different places because of flaws in different lists like they have different names in voter's list, aadhar list and the required documents. The election Commission must try to rectify it', it said further.
The Hindu
12 minutes ago
- The Hindu
‘SIR Trying to Introduce NRC in Bihar Through Back Door': Dipankar
Published : Jul 26, 2025 20:03 IST - 13 MINS READ The Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar has sparked fierce opposition from political parties and civil society groups who see it as a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise the poor, migrant workers, and minorities. Dipankar, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, calls it 'surgically invasive reconstruction' that threatens the constitutional guarantee of universal adult franchise. In this interview with Saba Naqvi, he discusses how the SIR fits into a broader pattern of democratic redesign, the political stakes in Bihar where the BJP has struggled to gain direct control, and why he believes this represents the 'biggest possible attack on the Constitution'. Excerpts: Is our democracy being redesigned by the Election Commission of India undertaking a special electoral roll revision as a pilot project in Bihar? What is going to happen to Bihar and the rights of people who do not have property and documents? The Election Commission calls it a Special Intensive Revision. The people of Bihar call it Vote Bandi, like demonetisation. I find this a surgically invasive reconstruction. This is not intensive; this is completely invasive and it's not revising; this is complete reconstruction of the electoral roll. Disenfranchisement is a real threat for the poor, migrant workers, and people who don't have enough documents. Underdeveloped is also under-documented. Bihar is a backward State in terms of socio-economic development, so it's also backward in terms of digitalisation and digital documentation. But Bihar is one State where people really love their democracy. They need this democracy. I vividly remember the 1989 election, when for the first time, people managed to confront booth-capturing, they managed to fight this feudal stranglehold over the electoral process, cast their own votes, paying a heavy price. On the day of polling, just after polling was over, some 22 people were gunned down in an electoral massacre simply because people had dared to cast their vote for their own representative. We had won that election. So people know the value of a vote. They are not going to sacrifice it easily. Also Read | SIR in Bihar: Is it time for the opposition to boycott elections? Bihar is the only State in the Hindi belt where the BJP has not directly come into power. Data shows richer, more landed, privileged caste people are more likely to vote BJP, whereas poorer people are less likely. Could this be part of that or just a bureaucratic exercise? The Chief Election Commissioner told us when we met him that a lot of questions came up in Maharashtra, and that's why we're doing this. So I told him that Maharashtra questions will have to be answered in Maharashtra. You can't balance Maharashtra with Bihar. I don't think this is just for one election. This is something all-India—the Election Commission has said this is a new kind of way elections will be conducted in India, how electoral rolls will be constructed, and they are beginning with Bihar because this is the only election happening now. I don't think this is just to win one single Bihar election because the BJP has anyway been in power. It's a double engine government. I don't think it is just their desperation to somehow grab power in Bihar that they are doing the SIR. It goes way beyond that. You rightly said this is a democracy being redesigned in India. If you look at these three things: first, the way Election Commissioners are being chosen. This is the first Election Commission appointed after the Modi government came up with legislation, which clearly says in the three-member committee, the government will have a two-thirds majority. Right now we have Modi and Amit Shah who choose their Election Commissioners. Then you have this whole push for 'One Nation, One Election'. And the third thing is the electoral roll, which is the most crucial thing because if you want universal adult franchise, that has to begin with the construction of the electoral roll. In the 1980s, people used to have their names on electoral rolls, but they couldn't cast their votes due to booth capturing. But they didn't have this existential crisis that their names would not be there. Now they are having this crisis where their names will be removed. This is probably the biggest possible attack on the Constitution. This has brought it to every home. The most fundamental right, the crucial cornerstone of our Constitution, which is universal adult franchise, is at stake. When you are talking about 'one nation, one election', you see a complete redesign that gets into federal powers, disenfranchisement, and takes away powers of States. How much can the Left today actually take on the Right? Bihar is not amused. Bihar is not going to take it lightly. Bihar is one State where even before the Emergency, the 1974 movement happened. When the Emergency really happened, in 1977, while it was still under way, elections happened, and people threw that government out of power. Bihar was one State where probably the Congress got zero seats. Bihar is all about migration, migrant workers. From the colonial period, the indentured labourers were all mostly from Bihar. Migrant labourers from Bihar are all over India. During the Corona [COVID-19] lockdown, Bihar migrant workers had to take the brunt of the whole attack. They had to walk back home on foot. And now they are being removed from the electoral roll. This is going to affect not just migrant workers because their families are there. They are the soul of Bihar. Look at what this SIR tells you: post-2003, that is a new generation. People below 40 will have to prove their citizenship. This is all about proving your citizenship, even though the Election Commission doesn't admit it—they call it only eligibility testing, but they are actually getting into the National Register of Citizens [NRC] thing in Bihar. The young generation below 40, the women of Bihar, migrant workers, and Muslims—they are going to have to prove their citizenship. So I'm sure people will fight back. This fight gives the Left energy. Struggle is the mode of existence for democracy, for the people in Bihar. In the last Assembly election, you won 12 of 19 seats in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress. In areas where you won, the BJP often lost out to you. Since then, equations are different—Nitish Kumar is ailing, Lalu Yadav is ailing, Chirag Paswan has entered. What do you anticipate? South Bihar is the region where we did our best. And the BJP fared worst in south Bihar. Look at the Lok Sabha results. There are four seats from Shahabad. All four have been won—two by our party, one by the Congress, one by the RJD. And neighbouring three seats in the Magadh region. So of the 10 seats won by the INDIA bloc, seven are from south Bihar, which is Shahabad and Magadh. You can see the BJP paying a lot of attention. Modi's second rally was in Bihar, probably the first time Prime Minister came to Bihar. After that, there was a rally by Chirag Paswan in Ara, which was basically pan-south Bihar mobilisation. He said that I'm going to contest 243 seats and there are talks that he may well be the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] candidate for Chief Minister. But you do not think they're going to dump Nitish Kumar, even though his popularity has declined, he is ailing, and there has been loss of control over law and order? It's a reign of terror now in Bihar. It's a government of the criminals, by the criminals, for the criminals. If you have seen that CCTV footage, that murder in Paras hospital. The way those five young people came, carried out the shooting, and left. None tried to hide their face. It shows a complete lack of fear because they know they enjoy absolute impunity and patronage. Nitish Kumar's main plank was Sushasan, good governance. If this is good governance where criminals call all the shots, I think they have just lost it. But the BJP still needs Nitish Kumar. Without Nitish Kumar, Modi 3.0 would not have happened. That's why he had to be hijacked just before the elections. Even now, if you compare Odisha and Bihar—in Odisha, it was all about Naveen Patnaik's health, Modi was so worried. And here everybody perceives that last one and a half years, Nitish Kumar's health, his public conduct, it is no longer like Nitish Kumar. So definitely something is wrong, but nobody will talk about it, especially in the NDA. Probably, they need Nitish Kumar for the time being and for the elections. But people know that something else is cooking. What about the gathbandhan (opposition) led by the RJD with Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress, and you? Intriguingly, Rahul Gandhi made a statement in Kerala equating the Left with RSS. I won't call it equated, but somehow he has found a way of clubbing the two together, which is completely unwarranted. Quite unfortunate. Given India's diverse political geography, you'll find States where there will not be a completely unified INDIA coalition. The INDIA coalition is basically the coming together of all the major political streams of India's freedom movement. We are the successors of Bhagat Singh. The Indian Left movement is nothing else. Bhagat Singh was probably the first authentic Left leader of India. So the Bhagat Singh legacy, Ambedkar's legacy, the legacy of Gandhi and Nehru, the legacy of Periyar—all these legacies, which are part of the freedom movement, we have to come together to fight this one force, which was never part of the Indian freedom movement, who acted against the freedom movement. There may be differences. You will find Bengal where the Congress and the Left are in opposition. You will find Kerala, where the Left is in power, the Congress in opposition. For me, all non-BJP forces should also be anti-BJP forces because the BJP appropriates everybody. Non-BJP parties—it's not enough to be non-BJP. You have to fight against the BJP. In the INDIA coalition, we have decided to march together and strike together. Structurally, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are temporary government servants, and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) are always RSS workers. How does the RJD, the Congress, CPI(M-L)L fight against the largest cadre organisation in the world? I'll tell you two things. One, there is this whole talk about Bangladeshis and people from Myanmar and Nepal, BLOs on house visits discovering such things. But on July 10, 2019, when Ravi Shankar Prasad was Law and Justice Minister, he told Parliament, citing the Election Commission, that 2016 to 2019, it got only three complaints from across India of foreign nationals on electoral rolls. Those three cases were in 2018—one from Telangana, one from West Bengal, one from Gujarat, none from Bihar. So this sudden discovery of influx of foreign nationals in Bihar villages defies credibility. Number two, they are introducing NRC by the back door. On February 25, 2020, the Bihar Assembly took a consensus resolution, unanimous resolution—Nitish Kumar was then with the BJP—that Bihar doesn't need NRC. There will never be an NRC in Bihar. Now they are trying to introduce NRC in Bihar through this electoral roll route. People in Bihar are not going to accept this. The BLOs and BLAs are under pressure. When BLOs are seen as instruments of exclusion, they will have to face the people. If they just act as instruments of disenfranchisement, people are not going to accept it. What has been the arc of your 40 years working in Bihar? How do you adapt when the world has shifted from feudalism and land to social media and money? When we started, the key issues in the 1970s were three: land, wages, and dignity. Dignity was probably the most important thing—whether somebody can sit on a cot, ask for wages for work done. Then gradually in the 1980s, we fought for voting rights. Now, dignity means that you lead a dignified life where you have your rights—education, health, employment, and secure employment with decent wages. The agenda has become bigger. There has been enrichment. That generation, which had to fight for their right to vote, for basic human rights—this current generation takes things for granted. But they are an aspiring generation. They want education, jobs, decent wages. We see it as a continuum. World has shifted, but at the end of the day, it's still about the people who matter. Especially in Bihar, that's one State where it still pulsates, the life of the people. The BJP is not seen just as a party that practices communalism in Bihar. It's also a party that represents the feudal forces. So the rise of the BJP is being seen as the rise of feudal restoration in Bihar. Also Read | 'People have said: we want our republic': Dipankar The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won a few seats in Seemanchal and seeks an alliance with the RJD. Your thoughts on the world situation—Gaza genocide, Pahalgam attack? AIMIM is an all-India party. Last election they won five seats, but Lok Sabha they didn't do that well. There is a feeling that concerns of the Muslim community are not being addressed adequately by people who care for Muslim votes, but they should also care for Muslim voters and their concerns. That's where AIMIM entered Bihar after the anti-CAA movement. Pahalgam—it has been more than 90 days now. We still don't know those four or five terrorists who came and did all this. Where are they? The main question was to bring them to justice. The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, gives an interview, says this was a major security failure, I take responsibility. I don't know how you take responsibility sitting on the chair. If the government admits this is a security failure, then they should also admit that stripping Kashmir of its statehood was a big mistake. Kashmir has to get its statehood back. This foreign policy isolation—the primary reason is that India has mortgaged its foreign policy to Trump and Netanyahu combined. If you don't have the guts to condemn genocide in no uncertain terms in the United Nations, which most countries in the world are doing, even England and Germany and France, and we abstained—how can we expect that people will be concerned about Pahalgam? That's what has brought us this isolation and complete derailment of Indian foreign policy. It has been a complete betrayal, a complete failure on every field from economy to governance to foreign policy and increasingly India's unity. If you pit one language against another, one religion against another, if you go on dividing the country, the beauty of the national movement was it united India. The Constitution is the basis that can keep India united. This whole last year's experience has made the people of India more experienced. I'm sure with the SIR and all that, the BJP is exposing itself more clearly to more people. The people will definitely give their final verdict. Saba Naqvi is a Delhi-based journalist and author of four books who writes on politics and identity issues.
NDTV
42 minutes ago
- NDTV
PM Modi Most Popular Democratic Leader With 75% Approval Rating: Survey
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the world's most popular democratic leader with a 75% approval rating, according to a recent global survey conducted by US-based data analytics firm Morning Consult. The survey, which reflects public sentiment collected between July 4 and 10, 2025, shows PM Modi well ahead of his global counterparts. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung followed with a 59% approval rating. Argentine President Javier Milei secured the third spot with 57%. The survey uses a rolling seven-day average to assess opinions among adult populations in each country. It is part of Morning Consult's ongoing Global Leader Approval Rating Tracker, which regularly measures the popularity of various democratic leaders. According to the report, only 18% of respondents disapproved of PM Modi's leadership, while 7% remained undecided or gave no opinion. PM Modi, who secured a third consecutive term in May 2024, continues to enjoy a dominant position in global rankings, reflecting both his domestic popularity and growing international recognition. US President Donald Trump, who returned to office last year, was ranked eighth, with only 44% expressing approval. As per reports, recent policy decisions, including controversial trade and domestic initiatives, may have affected his standing. Here's a look at the top 10 names from the survey: Narendra Modi (India): 75% approval, 7% no opinion, 18% disapproval Lee Jae-myung (South Korea): 59% approval, 13% no opinion, 29% disapproval Javier Milei (Argentina): 57% approval, 6% no opinion, 37% disapproval Mark Carney (Canada): 56% approval, 13% no opinion, 31% disapproval Anthony Albanese (Australia): 54% approval, 11% no opinion, 35% disapproval Claudia Sheinbaum (Mexico): 53% approval, 7% no opinion, 40% disapproval Karin Keller-Sutter (Switzerland): 48% approval, 24% no opinion, 28% disapproval Donald Trump (United States): 44% approval, 6% no opinion, 50% disapproval Donald Tusk (Poland): 41% approval, 11% no opinion, 49% disapproval Giorgia Meloni (Italy): 40% approval, 6% no opinion, 54% disapproval This recognition for PM Modi also coincides with another milestone in his political journey. As of July 26, 2025, he has completed 4,079 days in office, surpassing Indira Gandhi to become India's second-longest serving Prime Minister in an uninterrupted term. PM Modi is behind only the country's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. He is also the first and only non-Congress leader to have completed two full terms and been re-elected twice with a majority. This makes him the only non-Congress Prime Minister to independently secure a majority in the Lok Sabha.
