Amit Shah slams Congress in Assam, says state cannot be led by Pakistan-linked leaders
Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Congress leaders of sympathising with infiltrators and demanded Rahul Gandhi’s apology over abuses at a Bihar rally
A file image of Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Photo: IANS)
Guwahati, Aug 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on the second day of his two-day visit to Assam, launched a sharp attack on the Congress while addressing a rally of panchayat representatives in Guwahati. With Assembly elections in the state due in March-April next year, Shah said Assam cannot be led by leaders “who make frequent visits to Pakistan,” in an apparent reference to state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi.
Shah alleged that Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Colburn, had travelled several times between India and Pakistan, a claim earlier made by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“Assam cannot be represented by people who sympathise with infiltrators and encourage encroachments. Assam cannot be led by people who visit Pakistan frequently,” Shah asserted.
Highlighting the BJP-led government’s crackdown on illegal settlements, the Union Home Minister said, “The infiltrators encroached thousands of acres of our land. The Assam government freed 1,29,548 acres from encroachment by infiltrators. The sanctity of Srimanta Sankardeva and Mahapurush Madhavdeva’s satras has been restored by evicting infiltrators from their lands.”
He also claimed that infiltrators had earlier tried to establish roots through marriages with local women but were stopped by the BJP government.
Accusing Congress of being absent at the grassroots, Shah remarked, “If you want to find Congress in Assam panchayats, you will not find them even with binoculars.”
Earlier in the day, Shah targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, demanding an apology for alleged abuses hurled at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother during the ongoing ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar.
Calling it the “lowest level of politics,” Shah described the Congress programme as a “Ghuspetiya Bachao Yatra (Save Infiltrators Yatra).”
He said, “Rahul Gandhi should apologise if he has any shame left. The nation is watching him and his party in disgust. No amount of abuse can stop the lotus from blooming.”
- PTI