'3 crore Bangladeshi infiltrators don't exist on voters' list': Amit Shah counters Rahul's anti-SIR pitch

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday unleashed a polemical assault on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the Speical Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which has become a major political flashpoint.In a verbal blitzkrieg, a day after Rahul's mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital, Shah said the Congress's criticism of the roll revision was driven by an "attempt to protect illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators", claiming that three crore such voters did not even exist.On the biggest claim by the opposition that 13 crore voters have been deleted during the electoral roll purge, Amit Shah said: "6.25 crore voters have simply relocated to new addresses, around 3 crore are deceased, and approximately 1 crore represent duplicate entries. The remaining 3 crore do not even exist — they are Bangladeshi infiltrators".Lashing out at the Lok Sabha leader of opposition, the home minister said the Congress intends to "capture elections through bogus voting".Shah said: "If one person has two votes, should one of them be cancelled or not? Now we come to the source of 'Rahul Baba's' stomach ache. Three crore votes are such that the people they belong to do not even exist. These are Bangladeshi infiltrators."He also attacked Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, saying no matter the effort he puts along with Rahul Gandhi, the BJP will "ensure that every single infiltrator is removed from the voter list and driven out of the country."The Union home minister also countered Rahul's "Modi won because of the SIR claim", saying: "I want to ask Rahul ji: In 2014, Modi ji won. There was no SIR then, was there? So, did Modi ji win because of the SIR? He won because of the votes of the people. Modi ji won in 2019 as well. There was no SIR then. Did Modi ji win or not? He won because of the voters of India. After 2024, we won in Maharashtra with the biggest majority. We won in Haryana with the biggest majority. After 30 years, we won in Delhi. We won in Bihar with the biggest majority. In Bengal too, Didi's entire political standing has been wiped out.""The entire Congress and its allies are working to stop the SIR because these infiltrators are their vote bank. But we, the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, stand firmly with the SIR." Only those who are citizens of this country will be allowed to vote here," Shah said.Later, Shah went on to credit Sadar Vallabhbhai Patel, saying: "If Sardar Patel had not made the Nizam bow down at that time, Hyderabad would not be a part of India today."Amit Shah led ‘Maha Padyatra’ here on Monday as part of BJP’s nationwide campaign to counter the anti-SIR campaign launched by the INDIA bloc.He began the foot march from Babu Jagjivan Ram Statue at Basheerbagh in the heart of the city along with several party leaders and hundreds of party workers.Holding the national flag, Amit Shah was walking with Union ministers G Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao, party MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other leaders.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.