At present, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is one of the most controversial issues in India’s political landscape. Amit Shah’s “Aap chronology ko samjhiye” became very popular as a meme during the anti-NRC movement. Looking at everything that has happened and is happening across the country over the past year, it is clear that the SIR directed by the Election Commission is, chronologically, the preliminary stage of NRC itself. In the NRC, it was said that the legitimacy of citizenship of the country’s entire population would be verified on the basis of certain information and documents. This new mass harassment campaign called SIR is now talking about verifying legitimate voters on the basis of those very same documents.
As soon as the fascist RSS-BJP came to power in the Indian state in 2014, they began their constant lament over “illegal infiltrators.” The aim was to deprive a large section of Indian people of even their bare minimum democratic rights and turn them into second-class citizens. The purpose behind that? To prepare a reservoir of powerless, compelled, cheap labourers for serving the interests of domestic and foreign corporate masters, with no bargaining power. Along with that, also to turn them at times into guinea pigs for various experiments, and at other times, into cannon fodder on the frontlines of imperialist war zones. In addition, the Brahminical Hindutva fascist force sitting in state power in our country also wants to turn these helpless people into its loyal footsoldiers.
We can’t deny the socio-economic context behind the entire matter either. Today, an economic crisis has emerged across the world. To escape from it, the fascist forces are on the rise throughout the globe. India today faces record unemployment. Due to privatisation and negligence on the government’s part, job opportunities and employment rates are steadily shrinking. From workers and peasants to small business owners – everyone is in dire distress. Cases of suicide among students, workers and farmers continue to rise. Violence against women and other marginalised sections of society has also reached the skies. The BJP-RSS has been continuing its Hindutva propaganda, primarily against the minority Muslim population so that the common people’s attention can be diverted away from urgent needs, and the fascists can fulfil their agenda of selling off the country’s labour and resources to Adani, Tata, Ambani, Goenka, Essar, and Vedanta. In return, they can buy themselves a lease to remain in government.
It has been a long, gradual process, moving forward step by step. The government has been trying to implement this agenda since the beginning of 2019. At that time, they were forced to back down under the pressure of the massive anti-NRC-CAA mass movement. They have since been trying every trick and tactic to implement their agenda. Before that, the saffronisation of the key institutional bodies was necessary. On 19 February 2025, Gyanesh Kumar was “elected” as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). His friendship with BJP is well known in public circles. In 2019, he also had a significant role in the removal of Article 370, the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Such a Sangh puppet was brought in as the head of the Election Commission. There is quite a story to how he was appointed as well. The CEC is appointed through a three-member committee consisting of the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), the Home Minister (Amit Shah), and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (Rahul Gandhi). In other words, they are the ones who appointed Gyanesh. Although Rahul Gandhi has claimed that he did not support this appointment. In any case, it is clear that his support or opposition would not have changed the majority decision (2:1). But this strange, monopolistic rule of appointing the CEC was not original and eternal. There is a story here as well. The law governing the rules of CEC appointment was changed in 2023. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 was enacted. The new law states that, a joint committee of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha will complete this appointment, with the approval of the President. Not only the CEC, but also state Election Commissioners will be appointed by this committee. This is the backstory of handing over the whole election process into the hands of the government, and thereby the Sangh, like a puppet show. Although even prior to this, during the Maharashtra elections, the opposition had raised questions about the neutrality of the Commission. This time it became even more strongy established. Moreover, the current Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, is also a product of this process of saffronisation. It should not be difficult for us to understand that the government has been working in full force to complete its SIR-based agenda for a long time.
What happened next? After Bihar, SIR was conducted in Bengal as well. In the future, it will be implemented in every state. Throughout March-April last year, with the aim of completing an NRC trial run, the Election Commission has been holding meetings with Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), supervisors, and BLOs of various states. They once again brought forward the old bogey of “illegal infiltrators” as their weapon. SIR was carried out in Bihar before the elections. The Election Commission argued that Bihar had supposedly undergone rapid urbanisation. As a result, there had been extensive migration among the people. Besides that, there was also the issue of so-called illegal infiltrators. They might allegedly enter the voter list. In Bihar, however, we saw that because of SIR, not any so-called “infiltrators,” but rather ordinary people of Bihar were excluded, in most cases Bihari Hindus themselves. According to government statistics, more than 6.5 million names were removed in Bihar, of which 55% were women. According to a 2020 survey conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences, more than half of Bihar’s population is scattered across different states as migrant labourers. Yet SIR was completed there within just three months (June to September). By 14 July, the Commission claimed that within about 20 days of starting the work, 83% of Bihar’s voters had already filled up their forms. Bihar’s voter population is close to 80 million. According to the Commission itself, nearly 60 million people completed form filling within those 20 days. This inevitably raises questions about the credibility of the Commission and the BLOs. The usefulness of SIR during the November Assembly elections can be understood simply by looking at the number of seats won by BJP. Critics had already predicted that SIR was an attempt by the BJP and the Sangh to systematically eliminate opposition voters from the voter list.
In Bengal, however, the matter was handled somewhat differently. The fascist forces had already begun spreading Banglaphobia across the country. Whether it be Assam, Gujarat, Delhi, Odisha, and Maharashtra – in every one of these states, harassment of Bengali residents and migrant workers has increased manifold over the past few years. The Chief Minister of Assam had even publicly said that Bengalis are outsiders, infiltrators. Perhaps that is why Bengali workers from West Bengal who had gone to Delhi for work were thrown off into Bangladesh in such an inhumane way. Across the country, an undeclared emergency has been imposed on Bengalis in a planned manner. In those states, bulldozers are being used to demolish the homes of Bengali families despite Supreme Court restrictions. By inciting anti-Bengali sentiment, the Sangh tried to secure legitimacy and public support for SIR in Bengal. Like Bihar, SIR was carried out here just before the Assembly elections. BJP leaders like Suvendu Adhikari repeatedly made false claims that Bengal was being flooded with Rohingyas. All of this was done for the preparation of the ground. At such a time, the Election Commission announced the start of SIR in Bengal in August last year. After that, with wartime urgency, BLOs were transferred from one place to another within just a few days. And finally, on 4 November, SIR began in Bengal. Now, let us look at exactly what the relationship between SIR, NRC, and CAA is.
SIR states that as of 1 January 2026, anyone aged 18 or above must prove that they are a citizen of India and a legitimate voter. This is exactly the language of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2003 – that the state has no responsibility; one must prove themselves to be a citizen. It was through this law that the foundation stone for the first NRC across India was laid. Denying something as natural as citizenship by birth, the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP at the Centre brought amendments to the old Citizenship Act in 2003 through CAA, 2003. To define the parameters of citizenship, The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 was created. Through these rules, a list of necessary documents was drafted by which citizenship could be proved. That list also has strong similarities with the current SIR. It states that a person born between 1 July 1987 and 3 July 2004 must prove their citizenship. They must arrange proof of their parents’ citizenship or provide testimony that they are not “illegal infiltrators.” Yes, if you were born before 1987, then your chances of losing citizenship are the highest. Because you will have to gather documents not only for yourself, but also the proofs of citizenship and place of birth of both your father and mother. SIR also mentioned 11 such documents. With at least one of these documents, you must prove your date of birth and “place of birth.” Once again, the shadow of CAA, 2003 is reflected. What documents are required? Commonly accessible documents for ordinary people such as Aadhaar card, ration card, and voter card are not included in this list. You must provide a passport, birth certificate, caste certificate, Pension Payment Order (PPO), educational certificate from a government-recognised educational institution, land residence certificate, property deed, documents such as the presence of parents’ names in the 2002 voter list – things that can’t realistically be expected from the common people. And we observed this same design in CAA as well. Yes, the government’s beloved Aadhaar card was on the rejection list from the very beginning. It is being heard that during hearings everyone is being asked for Aadhaar. Again, in states where NRC has already been completed, that NRC list is supposedly being accepted. This means that if SIR is conducted in Assam, the 1.9 million people excluded from NRC, along with those in detention camps, will not even fall within the scope of this process.
But even after gathering so much information, what are we seeing? In the name of SIR, the entire population of Bengal has been subjected to severe harassment. Many people have even been repeatedly called for hearings after being labelled “suspicious” on the excuse of spelling mistakes in their names. Even after correctly submitting the required documents, nearly 9.1 million people have had their names removed from the voter list. Another 2.7 million are still under adjudication. As is obvious, the highest rates of exclusion are among the minority Muslim community, Dalit and Adivasi people, and women. The preliminary stage of NRC was the National Population Register (NPR), meaning the listing of all citizens. Its responsibility was placed in the hands of registrars. If they merely “felt” someone was suspicious, they had full authority to demand that person’s information. In the hearing process of SIR, we saw this exact same game. The power to strip citizenship merely on suspicion under NRC, today has become through SIR, the power to snatch away voting rights. In this situation, what future awaits these countless excluded people?
They will have to apply to the tribunal. Yes, this too is the path laid out in CAA 2019, that is, obtaining citizenship through application to a tribunal. This means that even after having all your documents, even after your information has been verified repeatedly in hearings, you can still be excluded. And in that case, you will have to apply to become a citizen of India. In this deeply shameful process of humiliation and indignity, you are being forced to declare that you are not a citizen of your own country. This process is extremely complicated, and the Commission has still not explained its exact procedure in detail. Unless you are a man of influence, it can be assumed that you have to abandon the hope of regaining your voting rights and citizenship. Otherwise, you will have to sell even your household utensils to afford to keep your case running in the tribunal.
The work of BLOs was to match the 2002 digital voter list with the 2025 list, distribute forms door to door, collect those forms, upload them to the app, and send notices to those whose names did not match because of technical issues. If there was any mistake anywhere, a voter would naturally hold the concerned BLO responsible. Yet the Commission stated that if names were missing due to technical errors, people did not even need to attend hearings. Many such people’s names are absent from the final list. The blame for this will fall on the BLOs. But we have seen how immense pressure was imposed on BLOs across the state as well. As a result, several of them fell ill and even died. Some even committed suicide.
According to the World Bank’s 2023 estimates, more than 400 million people in India survive on an income of only around ₹250 per day, which is nearly 30% of the population. They usually possess little documentation beyond Aadhaar, voter card, and ration card. Many don’t even have these. Moreover, our country is one of extremely unequal development and distribution. The divide between villages and urban areas is immense. So-called “smart cities” are being built for corporate profit, while electricity has still not reached many villages. Floods are an extremely common recurrent across different states. Every monsoon, flood damage goes from destroying homes to taking countless lives and beyond. People living in coastal regions face at least one cyclone every year due to climate change. In hilly regions, landslides are a regular occurrence. In such cases, people consider saving their own lives to be the urgent necessity; the importance of documents is secondary there. Naturally, people from all these regions have been excluded because of SIR, and they will not even be capable of defending themselves in tribunals.
Meanwhile, Assembly elections were announced across the state and the process is being completed. The 9.1 million excluded and 2.7 million pending voters were unable to vote this time. Yes, even though they were legitimate voters, the ECI did not have the patience for that. Critics will say that they were so eager only for BJP’s advantage. But why is no opposition political party demanding the cancellation or boycott of this illegal election? Although verbal opposition to SIR has come from the ruling Trinamool in Bengal, at the end of the day, the fact that Trinamool is itself an accomplice of RSS becomes clear through the drama of its futile opposition. It must not be forgotten that this same Trinamool was once a strong advocate of implementing NRC. Their efforts to suppress the anti-SIR movement that has emerged in Bengal are also enormous. To secure permission to remain in government after the next Assembly elections, they must remain in the good books of the Sangh. Several anti-SIR protest marches have been blocked by state police. In Ilambazar, even lathi-charge was carried out against protests opposing SIR hearings. The same happened in Chakulia. For posting against SIR, activists of mass movements have been subjected to repression – sometimes their posts or Facebook accounts are taken down, sometimes arrests are made. On 26 January, a shutdown (bandh) in Murshidabad was called in opposition to SIR. For posting in support of it, multiple activists across the state were detained by the police. That this happened without the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the police minister of the Trinamool government, is something perhaps even she herself would not claim. In Malda, Medinipur, and many other areas, when people spontaneously came out in protest, they were met with police batons and arrests. The Trinamool government gave direct support to all this. Parliamentary leftist parties, unable to understand the current of mass struggle, on one hand kept condemning the protesters, and on the other hand shamelessly demanded a “transparent SIR” and campaigned to participate in this illegal election. The Supreme Court unleashed the terrorist state agency NIA to suppress the people. In the words of CJI Surya Kant, this just people’s movement had supposedly broken down the law and order situation of the state! In such a situation, the struggle against SIR is the people’s own struggle. The Supreme Court’s position is making it seems that opposition to SIR through legal means is nigh impossible. What we need is to learn from the anti-NRC movement and the farmers’ movement against the new farm bills, and create a broader militant mass movement across the country. We must move forward taking lessons from recent struggles in Mothabari and Kaliachak of Malda. Mass awareness and mass movement must be carried forward together in tandem. In the face of Hindutva’s venom, every oppressed people standing under attack must unite in struggle to stop this arrangement of NRC at our doorstep. The united opposition of progressive and left forces is now an urgent necessity. Now is the time for resistance. It had already been called upon that if even one citizen is turned into a non-citizen, if even one legitimate voter is excluded and the next Assembly election is completed, then people should boycott that election and join a broader mass movement. The demand for total rejection of SIR can only be anchored by a strong militant mass movement everywhere.
