Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday that the Opposition’s agenda is clear — to bring about a ‘regime change’ in the country through the ongoing agitation. He said that in India, govts are changed by the people through the ballot, not by force or bypassing the Constitution.Prashant Bhushan’s statement on “regime change” has intensified questions about the Opposition’s approach, he said.The chief minister said that the critical distinction is whether a political change is being pursued through constitutional elections or through extra-constitutional agitation.“As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rightly emphasized, the path to power in a democracy is through winning people’s hearts, earning their trust and securing their mandate through elections,” Sawant said.Goa has witnessed a series of agitations over Special Intensive Revision (SIR).Sawant said the incident involving “Hindutva Murdabad” slogans during a recent protest against the SIR of electoral rolls in the state is being investigated. He said instructions had been issued for a thorough inquiry, and action would be taken only after the investigation is completed.Sawant said his govt would not tolerate attempts by people from outside the state to disturb communal harmony. He alleged there was a “deliberate attempt” to use public platforms to create discord. However, he declined to comment on whether Sunday’s protest by civil society groups and citizens had received funding from outside the state.Rajya Sabha MP Sadanand Shet Tanawade dismissed the Opposition’s allegations of “vote theft”, saying the criticism of SIR reflected political frustration. He claimed some participants had joined the protest to settle scores.Defending the SIR conducted by Election Commission (EC), Sawant said that it is not a new process and that every eligible citizen should be included on the electoral roll, and no eligible voter should be left out.Sawant said that deep revision—or intensive revision—of electoral rolls has been part of India’s electoral system for decades. Such exercises were undertaken in 1952–56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983–84, 1987–89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003 and 2004.“These revisions involved door-to-door verification, distribution and collection of enumeration forms and verification of voter records, carried out under different chief election commissioners and govts over the course of seven decades,” said Sawant.
