Protect Genuine Voters During Sir Exercise, Hariprasad Tells Congress Cadre

Addressing an awareness program on SIR in Mangaluru, Hariprasad claimed that the RSS and the BJP were working towards the goal of establishing a “Hindu Rashtra” and that it would be easier if these people were branded as non-citizens.

Describing pluralism as the soul of India, Hariprasad said the Congress sees governance as a responsibility and not a tool to gain power. “Every citizen of this country is a citizen of India. If anyone refuses this recognition due to religious or any other reason, it should be strongly opposed,” he said.

He urged Congress workers to ensure that genuine voters, especially workers, farmers, slum dwellers and other vulnerable groups, are not excluded from the rolls due to lack of documentation.

“Those who were born and raised here are citizens of this country. What documents do shepherds, farmers, laborers have? These are citizens born in this country, but most of them may not have the necessary documents. If a person with a fake grade card can become the Prime Minister, why can’t such people remain voters?” Hariprasad stated.

Hariprasad said Congress workers should actively participate in the revision process and verify whether eligible voters’ names remain in the lists. He urged Congress workers to take the issue as seriously as the freedom movement.

“Remove fake voters and duplicate entries if any. Most of them are from RSS and BJP. But do not delete names of real voters,” Hariprasad said. he said. Referring to the recent incident of Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan, Natarajan added that her case was not about “vote choir” but “seat choir”.

Referring to his experience in West Bengal, Hariprasad said the difference between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP was around 35 lakh votes. “Around 27 lakh voters were under jurisdiction. This means the difference was around 8 lakh. Within a month, around 10 lakh voters were added,” he claimed.

“BJP claims to be a different party. That is the difference. They have no respect for democracy, the Constitution and the tricolour,” he added.

Hariprasad stated that the “vote theft” allegations are not new and claimed that he has been raising the issue for 25 years. He claimed that in Bengaluru, the names of voters living in slums and minority communities were often deleted from the voter rolls simply by drawing a line between them, and no one objected to this at the time. “So we have reached this stage today,” he said, adding that India’s enlightened and conscious voters cannot be misled so easily.