New Delhi, June 28: The Congress, Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) attacked the Centre after former The Telegraph editor R Rajagopal said his passport renewal had been stalled following the deletion of his name from West Bengal’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Opposition leaders said that the plight of Rajagopal reflected a wider erosion of citizens’ rights.
Rajagopal, in a detailed note, said he found himself in a “state of civic uncertainty”, spending much of his time reconstructing decades-old family records after an adverse police report linked to his omission from the electoral rolls held up his passport renewal.
He said his intention was not to portray himself as a victim but to highlight the predicament faced by ordinary citizens.
“If someone who spent his professional life in journalism and edited a relatively known newspaper can encounter such difficulties, one can only imagine what the truly marginalised must endure,” he wrote.
The post drew sharp political reactions, with opposition leaders linking his experience to the controversial SIR exercise carried out by the Election Commission in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said the episode reflected “the level of irrationality” the country had reached.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose described Rajagopal’s account as “shocking” and “heart-rending”.
CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby alleged that the SIR exercise was being used to disenfranchise people and “determine citizenship in furtherance of the BJP’s divisive Hindutva agenda”. (PTI)
