Tenkasi: The all-party meet over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is an attempt to “safeguard democracy” and all parties should attend it, setting aside political differences, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Wednesday.
The ruling DMK and its allies have been opposed to SIR and the government has convened the all-party meet to decide on the next course of action after the EC recently announced the revision from next month in the poll-bound Tamil Nadu and other states.
The Chief Minister charged the ruling BJP with trying to “snatch” the voting rights of the people of Tamil Nadu through such an exercise.
“I reiterate from this stage--voting is the basis of democracy. We will not sacrifice it at any cost. We will overcome the BJP’s efforts like snatching the voting rights and vote theft and protect Tamil Nadu people’s voting rights.”
He further said, “Kerala has joined us,” apparently referring to the opposition from that state CM Pinarayi Vijayan to SIR.
“All political parties should participate in this effort aimed at safeguarding democracy by setting aside their political differences,” Stalin said about the proposed all-party meet.
Continuing his attack on the BJP, Stalin said, “We all know what happened in Bihar. If defeat is evident, then the BJP decides to remove the voting population in that State. They are trying to implement the same formula here (through SIR).”
“We have been opposing this conspiracy (of the BJP) from the beginning. I once again reiterate from this stage that the foundation for democracy is voting rights. We will never give it up under any circumstances,” he said.