Amit Shah in Raipur Offers Special Parliament Session on SIR and Says Chhattisgarh Now Naxal-Free
Raipur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the government is ready to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, challenging the opposition to debate the issue in the House. Speaking at a function in Raipur during the closing ceremony of the Chhattisgarh Rajyotsav, Shah said the Narendra Modi government is prepared to answer every charge raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, whether on SIR, electronic voting machines or infiltrators.
Shah accused the Congress of mocking Parliament by setting up a mock parliament and staging what he called a charade of debate, while refusing to allow the real House to function. He said Rahul Gandhi could become prime minister only in a mock parliament, whereas Narendra Modi remains prime minister in the real Parliament with popular backing. The remarks follow Shah’s padyatra in Hyderabad in support of SIR, where he had earlier made the same challenge and accused the opposition of trying to protect infiltrators by opposing the revision exercise.
The Special Intensive Revision is a verification exercise for electoral rolls that has triggered political debate over voter deletions, verification requirements and repeated extensions of deadlines in several states. The government has maintained that the exercise is meant to clean up the rolls and remove ineligible names, including illegal infiltrators, while the opposition has questioned its implementation. Shah said the government is willing to discuss the exercise in a special session so that the facts can be placed before Parliament and the public.
At the same Rajyotsav programme, Shah declared that Chhattisgarh has become Naxal-free and said the state is poised to rank among the top three states in tourism in the coming years. He pointed to the region’s tourism potential, including the Gariaband region, the Balameshwari temple, Dantewada’s Danteshwari temple and the unique Bastar Dussehra, and said cultural initiatives such as Bastar Pandum and Bastar Olympics are helping revive the state’s folk traditions. He recalled that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee created Chhattisgarh and that Prime Minister Modi has nurtured it, and noted that the BJP has been in power in the state for 20 of its 26 years.
Earlier in the day, Shah inaugurated the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Park in Naya Raipur, and the closing ceremony was presided over by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai. The Home Minister greeted the people of the state on Chhattisgarh Foundation Day and paid respects to Chhattisgarh Mahtari, saying the goal under Modi’s leadership is a state where people are happy and affluent and the land itself is prosperous and thriving.
