The Aryavarth Express
Hyderabad (Telangana): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday accused the BJP and the Election Commission of working together to remove large numbers of voters from the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh through the Special Summary Revision (SSR) process.
Speaking to reporters, Yadav alleged that more than 3 crore voter names could be deleted during the revision, claiming the exercise was being misused to target areas where the BJP had faced electoral setbacks. “The BJP and the Election Commission are conspiring to remove voters’ names in regions where the BJP lost. NRC is being implemented through the SIR,” he said. Yadav also criticised the ruling party over nationalism, remarking that those who now insist on singing Vande Mataram “never sang it before independence” and “never liked the Tiranga.”
His remarks come amid an intensifying political debate in Uttar Pradesh over electoral rolls and the fairness of voter list revisions.
Earlier this week, during the Lok Sabha’s special discussion on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Yadav launched a strong attack on the BJP, accusing it of trying to politicise the song’s legacy. He asserted that Vande Mataram belonged to the people and to the freedom movement, not to any political organisation. “The ruling party wants to claim everything as its own,” he said, while remembering Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who authored the song that inspired millions during the independence struggle.
Yadav highlighted the song’s historical role, recalling how it became a powerful rallying cry against colonial rule. He referenced Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic rendition during the Kolkata Congress session, and noted that the British had banned the song between 1905 and 1908, even imprisoning schoolchildren in Bengal for singing it. “Revolutionaries kept the song alive despite the ban,” he said.
He argued that Vande Mataram should not only be sung but lived, questioning the BJP’s commitment to its ethos. He also accused certain individuals who now promote nationalism of acting as informants for the British during the freedom struggle. “Those who didn’t participate in the freedom movement cannot understand what celebrating Vande Mataram truly means,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Parliament, the BJP-led NDA government has been allocated three hours for its participation in the ongoing Lok Sabha debate, part of a 10-hour combined discussion to be held in both Houses. The Winter Session of Parliament, which began on December 1, will continue until December 19.
