The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has mocked the opposition parties for displaying a protest banner in Parliament with a misspelling of the word “लोकतंत्र” (democracy) in Hindi. The banner, held during a demonstration against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, became a subject of ridicule for the ruling party.
Senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and several other INDIA bloc MPs had gathered at the Makar Dwar (main gate) of the Parliament complex to protest what they alleged was an attempt to disenfranchise voters ahead of Bihar assembly polls. The opposition leaders raised slogans like “Save Democracy” and “Stop Voter Ban,” but a spelling mistake in their Hindi banner drew criticism.
Sharing a photo of the protest, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote in Hindi: “This is ‘Loktantra’ (democracy) according to the opposition.” He added, “Those who can’t even spell democracy are now out to teach us about it.”
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also took a swipe at the Congress, saying, “They can neither write democracy nor protect it. What they can write and defend is dynasty rule and emergency – the real ideologies they believe in.”
The protest was staged over the Election Commission’s ongoing revision of the voters’ list in Bihar. The opposition alleged that the SIR process could be misused to exclude legitimate voters ahead of the state elections. Both Houses of Parliament also witnessed protests by INDIA bloc members on the same issue.
