NEW DELHI: Opposition has expressed glee that it “forced” the governing BJP to accept its demand for a discussion on SIR in Parliament, amid relief that the decision has averted the washout of another session, a prospect that was set to test the unity of INDIA bloc given the murmurs against a blockade.Congress whip Manickam Tagore sounded a triumphant note, saying, “INDIA wins. Arrogance finally bows to the unity of 240 & 100 MPs…” But beneath the claim of victory was a feeling of ease as opposition MPs were worried that a prolonged deadlock, even if forced by “govt intransigence”, would cost them floor time to take up the cause of their constituents.The meeting of opposition representatives on Monday saw some of these concerns being raised by smaller parties, while at least one big party made ambivalent remarks over blockade of proceedings — a reason why opposition decided to protest for two days and take stock of the situation again on Wednesday.RSP MP NK Premachandran said it was good that the deadlock had been resolved but added that govt could have done this much earlier. “Better late than never,” he remarked.The two-day discussion will now see regional parties like Samajwadi Party, DMK, Trinamool Congress, apart from Congress, lead the charge against SIR and, it is asserted, expose govt and Election Commission over the revision of poll rolls that they allege is “exclusionary”. The difference among regional parties is that while DMK, CPM & TMC govern their states, SP is in opposition in UP, though it did well in Lok Sabha polls, besting the governing BJP, and is now worried that deletion of voters would target its support base. That means attention would be more on Akhilesh Yadav, who leads a large contingent of 37 MPs and is expected to mount the offensive.Sparks are set to fly as BJP and allies would use their recent Bihar election sweep to debunk opposition’s allegations against SIR, focussing on “Vote Adhikar Yatra” taken out by Rahul Gandhi along with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav. In that sense, it would be interesting to see if RJD is able to make a case against SIR post-polls.
