'Why only West Bengal has problem with SIR?': Amit Shah attacks TMC

Shah said the SIR is taking place in three opposition-ruled states and asked why complaints are coming only from West Bengal.

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday alleged that the West Bengal government openly facilitated infiltration and said it is obvious that the state where the highest number of such people have been granted citizenship will see the most names removed during the Special Intensive Revision of voter list.

In a conversation at Times Now Summit, the home minister said the SIR is taking place in three opposition-ruled states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala -- and asked why complaints are coming only from West Bengal, where the chief minister is "openly inciting" housewives to resort to violence when officials come for the exercise.

"If the complaint is coming from only one state, then it is clear that the problem is not of the SIR process but those who are ruling the state. They know that people have decided to oust them in the election, and are making grounds to cite it as an excuse after defeat in elections that their votes were cut," he said.

Shah said one of the objectives of the SIR is to remove the names of infiltrators who have wrongly registered as voters, resulting in demographic change in a state.

"The state government, which converted the highest number of infiltrators into citizens, will see the highest number of deletions from the voter rolls as well. What is the magic in this? Bengal openly allowed infiltration, making it a security issue not only for the state but also for the entire country. People of Bengal are scared," he said.

Shah said Mamata Didi can keep complaining, "we will remove each and every 'ghuspaithiya' (infiltrator), not only from the voter list but also from the country."

When asked about Banerjee's visit during an ED raid on I-PAC and the alleged seizure of a pen drive and other documents, the home minister said the case against I-PAC was an old one, asserting that had the executives appeared before the agencies, searches would not have happened.

Shah said that one could understand if she had protested action against party office bearers, but why did she come to defend I-PAC? He also claimed that the TMC workers were happy about the raids on I-PAC.

"What secret was hidden in I-PAC's computer that forced Mamata Didi to leave all her dignity and go there in the middle of the raid?" he asked.

On the large number of paramilitary being sent to West Bengal during the assembly elections, the home minister said earlier, elections in Bengal used to be held in 6-8 phases, so after one phase was completed, CAPF personnel could be redeployed from one place to another, which meant fewer forces were needed.

Asserting that the BJP will form the next government in West Bengal, Shah said it will not only implement the seventh pay commission but also increase the eligibility age for government jobs, giving youths another chance to get them.

"In Bengal, young people have not been given jobs for the past seven years. What fault do those youths have whose age had already exceeded the limit at the time of applying? We will definitely raise the age limit, and those young people who have crossed the age limit due to corruption will be given a new opportunity once again," he said.

On allegations against Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi having links to Pakistan, the Shah said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is a serious person and must have levelled such allegations after conducting proper research.

He rubbished the allegations that there was a dearth of local leaders in the BJP, which is poaching them from the Congress. "Only two leaders have joined the BJP because they were feeling suffocated there...They said they were the last few Hindu faces in the party and wanted to join the BJP, so we welcomed them."

He asserted that the BJP will form a government with over 90 seats in Assam.

On Tamil Nadu, Shah made it clear that no attempts were made to bring actor Vijay or his party, TVK, into the NDA fold.

"If he comes with us, I feel the effect will be the opposite on our vote bank,"he said.

"We are in alliance with AIADMK, which is like big brother in the state, and other parties in Tamil Nadu. We will form a government in Tamil Nadu. I can say this because during the last parliamentary elections, the BJP and AIADMK contested separately. If you take our voters together, we would have won 37 of the 39 seats," he said.

Shah said there is a lot of anti-incumbency in the state against DMK. "They have spread politics of hate," he alleged.