Shakuntala Devi, originally from Nepal, but married in the Madhubani district of Bihar, India, is now in two boats. When the Election Commission of India conducted a Special Intensive Review of the electoral roll of Bihar, her citizenship was brought into question. She was born in Nepal and has Nepalese citizenship. But she is married to an Indian in Madhubani.

Coming from an ordinary family background, her husband did not make a birth certificate or an Aadhaar Card for her. She does not have any other identity card with her. While her husband's name could be enrolled in the electoral roll, Shakuntala's name could not be entered. This leaves her without citizenship. Now, to ensure that any document is processed to add her to the voters' list is a herculean task.

Bablu Ram of Aurangabad, Bihar, was working at Sigachi Pharma in Sangareddy district, Telangana. On June 30, in the blast that took place in the factory, he sustained 20 per cent burnt injuries and was admitted to the hospital. He was in the hospital till the end of July. Although he was not fully healed, the hospital authorities, pressured by the company, discharged him. The company had offered just ? 1 lakh for his treatment and food. His sisters were with him to take care of him.

The Election Commission's demand, asking all citizens of Bihar to enrol themselves in the electoral roll, came as a blow to Bablu nd his family. For the last three years, he had been working at this factory and managing his affairs using his Aadhaar Card and PAN Card. Since he was enrolled as a temporary labourer by the company, he was not given any appointment letter or ID card, which could have been used to prove his citizenship. He was forced to return to Bihar to run around in bad health conditions to procure documents to prove that he could vote in the forthcoming Assembly election of Bihar.

Pinto Rai of Munger lost his brother, Mintu Kumar, in a stone quarry explosion in Kerala. This was a month ago. Since the labour laws of Kerala are stringent, the owner of the stone quarry was required to pay compensation of Rs. 25 lakhs. However, the Labour Tribunal of Pathanamthitta district in Kerala mediated between the stone quarry proprietor and the family of Mintu to obtain the necessary documents of Mintu's widow and his children.

They had an Aadhaar card but did not have a bank account. This family comes from a totally rural background, for whom a bank account is a luxury, that too in the name of women and children. They had a difficult time completing this task. However, they found it very hard to trace the vanshavali, that is, their family lineage. Since all the government officials were busy with SIR, this family had not received the document, even after weeks. Due to this, the transfer of the compensation for Mintu's death is stuck in the tribunal.

The ordinary citizens of Bihar were pushed into massive hardship due to the imposition of SIR by the Election Commission. This is all the more serious a matter for over 10 million distressed migrants who have migrated from Bihar to eke out a living outside Bihar. In Labour Chowk, Porvorim, Goa, over 4,000 migrant labourers from the Bhagalpur district of Bihar reside in some of the most dire conditions, struggling to make a living for themselves and their families. Similarly, in Ishnapur of Sangareddy alone, there are over 4,000 labourers who are working to earn 'better wages' than in Bihar in some of the most hazardous industries. For these people to come to vote in Bihar is an expensive affair. But more than that, to obtain their documents, even if they spend money and come home, they would lose their daily wages. Some may even lose their job.

Delay in the Census of India
The Census of India is a decennial event, meaning it is conducted every 10 years to collect comprehensive data on the population's size, distribution, living conditions, and demographic, social, and economic characteristics. The first census in India was conducted in 1872 under Governor-General Lord Mayo. This, in a sense, has become a model for the later census enumeration.

Some of the salient features and importance of Indian census: 1) Census is the most important statistical data instrument for the country; 2) Census covers the entire population, that is, the new born child to the senior most person; 3) While other data collection are often sample based, census is the only enumeration which takes into account all the citizens; 4) This is undertaken every 10 years; 5) based on the census data, Planning Commission, the Finance Commission, etc., make their plans and allocation; 6) Reservation quota is decided based on the data that comes from the census.

The BJP-led NDA government has been using delaying tactics to avoid, and if possible, end the census enumeration. Interestingly, in February 2021, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated ?37.68 billion for the census in the 2021 Union budget of India. It was delayed to 2022 and then further delayed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. However, the pandemic is long gone, but the BJP is not willing to undertake a census.

There are many reasons why the BJP is delaying census. Many citizens believe that the BJP government aims to abolish the census as a means to deal a fatal blow to reservations. Modi's statement in Parliament makes it evident that he is opposed to any form of reservation policy.

Secondly, others are concerned that the BJP government intends to conduct delimitation rather than a caste census. By this, it aims to benefit from the increase in seats according to the population in northern India and the decrease in population in southern India. Debating on this fact, Mr K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, stated, 'Census delay no accident, delimitation not a coincidence.' He accused the BJP-led central government of deliberately delaying the national census and orchestrating the delimitation process with a hidden agenda. In a post on social media, he alleged: "There is a sinister design in how the BJP-led Union Government is implementing the national census and the subsequent delimitation. Developed states, especially in the non-Hindi speaking South, which followed population control norms, will now be punished."

The BJP government's sinister plan to deny the constitutional rights of the citizens to be enumerated so that different benefits could accrue to them is denied by this fascist and anti-citizen government. It not only delays and now almost denies the census exercise, but is also non-committal to a caste census.

When the political parties and citizens demanded a caste census, Modi accused them of playing vote bank politics. Addressing the electoral rallies in the 2023 state elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, Modi said, 'People tried to divide the country on caste lines during elections. For me, there are only four castes: women, youth, farmers, and the poor.' Two years before this pronouncement, in response to the Lok Sabha, the government had declared that it would not provide caste-wise data beyond the Scheduled Castes.

However, the BJP suddenly agreed to undertake a caste census. The unexpected turn is the result of a complex interplay of issues—electoral calculus, state-level pressures and a recognition that caste realities can no longer be ignored, even for a party that built its brand on the promise of a 'casteless' Hindutva nationalism.

There are also state elections coming up, most notably in Bihar, where being on the right side of the caste cohort debate could pay rich dividends. Indeed, many see the caste survey as a political gamble aimed at outflanking Mandal-era parties on their home turf, blunting the Congress's social justice pitch, and recasting the BJP as the new custodian of the Bahujan samaj.

Secondly, the BJP could attract many 'lower' OBCs or most backward castes because these caste groups had been neglected by opposition parties, which tended to focus on the 'upper' OBCs (and these groups, as a result, voted much less for the BJP - 39 per cent, in 2024). There's one interesting exception here: in UP, the Samajwadi Party nominated a tiny number of Yadavs ('upper' OBCs) to woo the 'lower' OBCs by giving them more tickets – and it worked, mainly because the Yadavs continued to vote for the SP, whereas the party's 'lower' OBC candidates joined them, for a change, to support candidates from their community.

Further, the census exercise is delayed so that the BJP can continue to deny implementing reservations for women. It took the BJP nine years to bring out a bill on women's reservation. This bill is also poorly drafted. Having introduced it in Parliament is the only action taken, but it has not been implemented. It is denying this right of Indian women since it has trained its gun on delimitation for this political end.

While the genuine and constitutional demand for both enumeration and election comes from the citizens, the BJP, in its sinister plan, refuses to accept these demands. It is also refusing to explore the caste census since it is scared to face the stark reality of the socio-economic status of the Dalits, the Tribals, the minorities and the most backward castes. Thus, it has failed to adhere to the principles of The Census Act, 1948.

SIR and Election
The BJP, using the Election Commission as its stooge, has ventured into a most dangerous game. It has denied the census but has initiated a Special Intensive Review of the electoral roll. This is a legally and constitutionally illogical and objectionable exercise. It has also released guidelines specific to the state of Bihar. If it succeeds here in Bihar, it would carry out a similar exercise and guidelines in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. These are the states where elections are due, and the BJP and RSS want to make inroads by all means.

There are significant anomalies in the very concept, guidelines, and the manner in which SIR is conducted in Bihar. 1) The guidelines, though lengthy, do not explain things clearly; 2) The timeline is too short, starting from June 24 to September 1; 3) 11 documents are proposed, one of which is a passport. There are only 2.4% citizens of India who have a passport. This is even lower in Bihar; 4) Aadhaar card which the BJP projected as a sacrosanct document of every citizen and linking with KYC etc., now appear to be farce since the Adhaar card is not one of the 11 documents to be submitted; 5) Even after the Supreme Court gave the order to accept it as one of the documents to be submitted to prove one's citizenship, this order has not percolated to the Booth Level Officers (BLO) who continue to demand for other documents; 6) As per the ECI 65 lakh voters names have been deleted in Bihar from the voter's list. However, the ECI does not provide reasons for deleting these, nor does it specify what would happen to them.

Even after the Supreme Court's order, the order has not been put into practice. There is widespread apprehension among the general public of the country. If they fail to produce the demanded documents within the stipulated time and are unable to get their name enrolled in the electoral list, they could be referred to as 'foreigners in India.' Their citizenship can be cancelled by the stroke of a pen of the BLO on the behest of the ECI, which has become a stooge in the hands of the fascist forces.

The ECI has the authority and power to verify the citizenship of anyone. But the burden of proving one's citizenship is on the citizen. This has left the people in a state of huge uncertainty. Many are worried that the BJP government, if it continues its line of anti-citizen policies and programs, may inform citizens that they cannot obtain a gas cylinder, ration, or open a bank account since they do not have a voter ID. It could also illegally extradite people on the pretext of not having a voter ID.

Furthermore, it is reported that over 3,00,000 people in the border areas of Bihar have been informed that their documents need to be verified. That is, their citizenship must be proven. The fundamental question is, who is or who will be disenfranchised in the process, and at what cost?

The authoritarian, abusive, anti-citizen policies and programs of the BJP government can be highlighted with the evil intent and process of SIR. 1) All the rules of the game are broken. The guidelines are unclear and anti-user-friendly; 2) The BLOs never went to people, but the people had to go after them. Those who are thugs got their work done. But the ordinary citizens could not; 3) The website of ECI was unresponsive most of the time. ECI said that all the documents would be uploaded, and people can upload their documents online, but this could not be done due to the inaction of the website; 4) Supreme Court's orders were not carried out.

Finally, it is pertinent to note that the 14-member census committee was dissolved. As reported by The Hindu, the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has quietly dissolved the 14-member Standing Committee on Statistics, headed by eminent economist and former Chief Statistician of the country, Pronab Sen, allegedly after its members questioned the delay in conducting the census.

Modi and Amit Shah are pushing the country to darkness, devastation and death. They are introducing anti-citizen policies and programmes one after another. They are undermining the constitutional and legal requirements by doing and undoing things of national importance. Resistance by the citizens is the only way to counter these fascist, destructive and devilish forces. The Voter Adhikaar Yatra has shown the way to put an end to the BJP, NDA government.