'SIR designed to delete the landless and the unlettered'

Outspoken and sincere, Sudhakar Singh is the Rashtriya Janata Dal MP from Buxar, Bihar. As former state agriculture minister, he famously accused his own department officials of corruption before resigning over differences with chief minister Nitish Kumar. Now busy preparing for assembly polls, due in October/ November, he took time to speak to Vishwadeepak on the controversial SIR exercise and the general state of affairs in Bihar. Excerpts:

The Election Commission claims the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a routine and legitimate process. The Opposition views it as exclusionary and designed to disenfranchise the poor, the Dalit, backward and minority communities. What’s your take?

The claim that this is a routine process is ridiculous. The voter list is normally updated once a year — in January. The process of adding or deleting voters takes place between December and January. This was done in January 2025. So why again, barely six months later? The INDIA bloc has no issues with the revision. What we oppose is the manner in which the SIR was executed, the documents the ECI considered ‘valid’ and the philosophy driving the exercise.

Even when the Constitution was being drafted — between 1946 and 1949 — the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS were against universal adult franchise. They believed only the educated and landed should have the right to vote. This was unacceptable to the majority of the Constituent Assembly. Every adult Indian, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, was given the right to elect their representatives.

After all these years, the Election Commission is asking people to produce matriculation certificates or documents showing ownership of land. In Bihar, 24 per cent of the population have only studied till high school and over 40 per cent are landless.

What they failed to do in the 1940s is being pursued in 2025. What was settled post-Independence is now being undone.

Will the exercise benefit the ruling coalition in Bihar or will it boomerang on the NDA?

The design to exclude and disenfranchise people is clear. Sources within the Election Commission declared that 35 lakh voters were found to be ‘fake’ and would be dropped from the lists. How did they arrive at this number well before the exercise was due to conclude (on 25 July)? An NDA/ BJP government has been at the Centre for 11 years. In Bihar, the NDA has ruled for the better part of 20 years. If there is ‘infiltration’ — who is answerable?

The Election Commission has had no problem conducting three Lok Sabha elections and two assembly elections during this period. Who prevented them from identifying foreigners and infiltrators, deporting them or sending them to detention centres? Let the Union home minister answer. This is unacceptable. If even a single Indian citizen is disenfranchised, it is a ‘crime’.

Will this be an issue in the upcoming election?

It’s already an issue in the state. People are distressed and anxious. The ECI has undertaken an exercise that has been botched from the beginning, poorly managed and compromised.

Different kinds of forms were distributed in different areas, some with EPIC numbers and some without, some with photographs and some without. Most voters did not receive an acknowledgement, even. The BLOs (Booth Level Officers) were seen signing the forms, and as far as we can tell, a large number of forms were uploaded without documents. Contrary to claims, political parties were not taken into confidence and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) were not provided any lists. The entire exercise is opaque and suspect.

How do you plan to minimise exclusion of voters?

We have challenged the SIR in the Supreme Court. Our leader Tejashwi Yadav and other leaders of the INDIA bloc have called on ECI officials and submitted memorandums and details from the ground. We helped people fill up forms and BLAs were deployed to coordinate and ensure that our voters are not left out.

Is the INDIA bloc in Bihar planning to campaign together?

Every party will campaign on its own but whenever an alliance partner needs help in terms of leaders, resources, local workers, contacts etc, others will step in. For example, if a Congress leader feels Tejashwiji should campaign in some constituency, he will go. Similarly, if any RJD leader needs Khargeji or Rahulji, they will be requested to lend a hand. There are also plans to hold joint rallies.

Law and order in the state is a prime concern, as is the economy, unemployment and chronic migration. Corruption has become both endemic and systemic. Bridges constructed at a cost of several thousand crores are collapsing. Government posts are lying vacant. Recruitment has stalled. Smart meters are fleecing people. We are fighting not just to seize power in the state but to usher in lasting change.

Shouldn’t all political parties share the blame for Bihar’s plight? Before the NDA, the RJD was in power for 15 years. Are they all wasted years?

When RJD was in power, we succeeded in bringing about social change; to a great extent we broke the back of the feudal order and empowered the backward communities and made them aware of their rights. Untouchability and social discrimination were addressed effectively.

While we fixed the social aspect, we failed to fix the economy. Just when we had begun to focus on the economy, we got embroiled in the so-called ‘fodder scam’, the beneficiaries of which were largely upper-caste people, the BJP’s natural allies. We believe economic justice cannot be ensured without social justice. We are confident that now we are prepared.

As for the BJP, RSS and the NDA, they want the status quo to continue. When Tejashwiji was in power for 17 months, he recruited several lakh teachers. There were no question-paper leaks, no accusations of nepotism or selling of posts. In government hospitals, more than one lakh posts were created. We were working to revamp policing in the state when Nitishji toppled the government and went over to the NDA. Change requires time and we were robbed of that.

Moreover, Nitishji is very difficult to work with. I had to resign as minister because he was so dogmatic. He showed no interest in changing the status of agriculture in Bihar. While Narendra Modi had promised to double farmers’ income, the state government needed to show more initiative. That didn’t happen.

In an article published in Frontline, you accused the Union government of being biased in favour of the western states. Do you still believe that’s true?

A false North versus South narrative was concocted to divert attention from the real issue, which is discrimination sponsored by the central government in favour of states in the west while depriving the eastern states of funds. Bihar is not the only victim—West Bengal, Odisha and the North-East are also affected.

Let me give you a small example. The capex budget of the central government, PSUs and NHAI taken together is nearly Rs 20 lakh crore. This is meant to build ports, dry ports, semi-conductor factories, defence and software industries etc. The bulk of the investment is made in just three states — Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

When Prime Minister Modi visits Bihar, he talks about five kilogram of foodgrains and subsidies; when he goes to Gujarat, he talks about infrastructure and industry. Because of such double standards, the gap between western India and eastern India has widened. Bihar has been reduced to supplying cheap labour to industrialists in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Bihar is possibly the only state where Shramik Express trains are running. Every few years, the PM flags them off, one new train from Bihar to Surat, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and other cities.