India Bloc Must Take Unified Stand on SIR, Says CPI(ML) Liberation Leader

Speaking to The Hindu, CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya warned that the INDIA bloc can no longer afford to treat the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as a series of isolated, state‑level headaches. He said the alliance must stitch together a single, all‑India stance – something that, in his view, has been missing for far too long.

Bhattacharya reminded everyone that the last INDIA meeting, held on 8 June in Delhi, had set a simple agenda: reconvene within two months. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge later earmarked 8 August in Hyderabad for the follow‑up. “August 8 came and went, and the meeting never happened,” Bhattacharya told us, a hint of frustration evident in his tone. He added that his party has already raised the issue with the Congress leadership, underscoring the urgency of a united front on several pending matters.

Why the pressure now? The SIR, a fresh roll‑call of electoral rolls, has already wiped out more than 15 % of registered voters in several states where Phase‑3 draft lists are out. In Bihar and West Bengal, the pruning has been especially severe, with whole villages finding themselves erased from the electoral map. Uttar Pradesh, too, is seeing a similar purge, and Bhattacharya says it deserves a “closer look”.

“So far every state and every opposition party has tackled the SIR in its own way,” he observed. “Now the all‑India picture is emerging; it is high time we adopt a national view and evolve a collective response.” The leader’s plea comes just as a slew of crucial state elections loom on the horizon – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur and Goa are all slated for 2027.

On the electoral front, Bhattacharya disclosed that CPI(ML) Liberation intends to contest assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. “If possible, as part of the INDIA bloc, if a broader coalition emerges,” he added, hinting at a willingness to join forces should the alliance manage to cement a common strategy.

In short, the message from Bhattacharya is clear: the INDIA bloc must shed its patchwork of state‑specific positions, rally around a single narrative on the SIR, and act swiftly before the next wave of elections reshapes the political landscape.