Amit Shah Challenges Rahul Gandhi to SIR Debate, Says Government Ready for Special Parliament Session

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday led the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ padyatra in Hyderabad and used the occasion to take the debate over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls directly to the opposition.

Addressing party workers and supporters, Mr Shah said the government is ready to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the SIR issue and challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to debate it in the House. He argued that the revision exercise is aimed at cleaning up the voter lists and ensuring that only genuine voters remain on the rolls.

“We will remove every infiltrator from the electoral rolls,” Mr Shah said, asserting that the government would not back down from what he described as a necessary correction of the voter lists. He said the BJP was prepared to answer every question on the issue in Parliament, and invited the opposition to test its claims in an open debate rather than through street protests alone.

The Home Minister also attacked the INDIA bloc’s rally in Delhi on 1 November, saying the opposition alliance was spreading confusion about the revision process. According to Mr Shah, the campaign against SIR is based on misinformation, and the BJP’s padyatras across the country are intended to explain the process to ordinary voters.

The Hyderabad march formed part of the BJP’s nationwide campaign in support of the electoral-roll revision. Party leaders say the revision, which involves a special intensive verification of voter entries, is meant to strengthen democracy by making the rolls accurate and up to date.

Congress and other opposition parties have, in contrast, raised concerns about the revision, arguing that genuine voters could be affected. Mr Shah’s challenge is therefore likely to sharpen the political argument in the days ahead, with both sides now framing the SIR as a test of democratic credibility.

For the BJP, the Hyderabad padyatra also served as a show of organisational strength in Telangana, with senior state leaders joining the march. For the opposition, the question now is whether to accept the offer of a parliamentary debate and take the argument into the House, where the government says it is ready to respond in detail.