Shah tears into RJD-Congress combine for opposing SIR

Sitamarhi: Union Home minister Amit Shah on Friday charged the Opposition RJD-Congress combine in Bihar with trying to “protect” its vote bank of “infiltrators from Bangladesh” by criticising the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Shah was addressing a rally in Sitamarhi district of Bihar, shortly after he laid the foundation stone for a nearly Rs 900 crore project for giving a facelift to “Punaura Dham”, a shrine situated at the place where goddess Sita is believed to have been discovered by King Janaka.

“The special intensive revision has taken place many times before. But never did Rahul Gandhi or (RJD president ) Lalu Prasad criticise the exercise. They are opposing it now. The reason is they want to protect their vote bank,” said the former BJP president.

The special intensive revision is needed to remove from the voters’ list names of infiltrators who came illegally from Bangladesh and eat up the jobs on which the youth of Bihar have a legitimate claim, he said, alleging that Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad want to protect such illegal voters.

“Should the names of infiltrators not be knocked off the electoral rolls? Rahul Gandhi loves to brandish a copy of the Constitution at the drop of a hat. He should thoroughly read the Constitution which clearly states that those who are not citizens of the country have no right to vote,” Shah said.

The Union home minister also mocked the Opposition parties for failing to “come up with a single claim or objection” regarding wrongful deletion of genuine voters or inclusion of those who were not eligible to vote.

Notably, as part of the SIR, the Election Commission last week came out with its “draft electoral rolls”, dropping names of more than 65 lakh voters who had either died, or migrated to some other state permanently or were enrolled as voters at more than one place.

Widely regarded as the BJP’s principal strategist, Shah claimed that he foresaw “a certain victory for the NDA in Bihar”, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president, who was present on the occasion.