Delhi, Sept 24: Raising the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP president Amit Shah Sunday said “infiltrators have entered the country” and are “eating it like termites”.

Hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a rally in Ramlila Maidan, Shah said the two speak out in favour of illegal immigrants because they care only about vote-bank politics. He also asked them to clarify their stand on the NRC, which is being updated in Assam.

Addressing the Purvanchal Mahakumbh event, organised by the Delhi BJP, Shah said, “Delhi ke andar avaidh ghuspethiyon se pareshani hai ya nahin? Inhe desh se nikalna chahiye ya nahin? 100 crore ki tadad mein ghuspethiye ghus gaye hain aur deemak ki tarah chaat gaye hain desh ko. Ukhad phenkna chahiye ya nahi? (Are you bothered because of illegal immigrants in Delhi or not? Should they be thrown out or not? 100 crore infiltrators have entered our country and are eating the country like termites. Should we throw them out or not?) But as we start talking about uprooting them, Rahul Gandhi and others start to crow. They (illegal immigrants) enter here, throw bombs and kill innocent citizens of the country. Should we not protect human rights of our people?”

BJP president Amit Shah, along with other leaders at the event. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

He also hit out at Kejriwal, saying that he lies and has not done any work for the city. Kejriwal promptly responded on Twitter and challenged Shah to a debate at the same venue. “I challenge you, come let us have a public debate at Ramlila Maidan before the people of Delhi,” he tweeted.

In his half hour speech, Shah further said, “Kejriwal ji in the last four years, what work have you done for the people of Delhi? Delhi’s CM… knows only one thing — to lie and to lie more. There is no vision for the development of Delhi and the party just does politics of protest.” He also said that the BJP will win all seven Lok Sabha seats in the capital.

Listing the work done by the Modi government, he said the BJP government had given Rs 13.80 lakh crore to Poorvanchal states under the 14th Finance Commission, unlike the previous Congress government.

To this, Kejriwal replied in a tweet, “Amit Shah ji, how much money did your government give Delhi under the 14th Finance Commission? Merely Rs 325 crore. People of Purvanchal reside in Delhi also. Why did your government not provide money for their development? Why was there discrimination against the Poorvanchalis living in Delhi?”

Shah also asked the Congress president and the AAP to clear their stand on “urban Naxalism” before the polls. He also criticised the Mahagathbandhan of the opposition parties and asked people to choose between “Majboot Sarkar” or “Majboor Sarkar”.

Courtesy: indianexpress.com

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New Delhi (PTI): Russia agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of military hardware and spare parts for maintenance of Russian-origin arms and defence equipment.

Ways to bolster overall bilateral defence cooperation figured prominently during summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

It has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that the supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time, affecting the maintenance of military systems procured from that country.

"Both sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian origin arms and defence equipment under Make-in-India programme through transfer of technology," a joint statement said.

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It said both sides also agreed to set up joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian armed forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries.

The joint statement said the India-Russia defence partnership is being reoriented to take up joint co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems.

In their meeting on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov resolved to expand bilateral defence cooperation.

In the meeting, the Indian side showed keen interest in procurement of additional batches of S-400 missile systems from Moscow to bolster its combat prowess.

In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Three squadrons have already been delivered.

The S-400 systems played a crucial role during Operation Sindoor. India may also look at procuring the S-500 missile systems from Russia.

In the Modi-Putin talks, the two sides also agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral trade settlements through the use of national currencies.

Additionally, the two sides agreed to continue their consultations on enabling the interoperability of the national payment systems, financial messaging systems, as well as central bank digital currency platforms.

Modi and Putin appreciated the ongoing intensification of the joint work on a free trade agreement on goods between India and the Eurasian Economic Union, covering sectors of mutual interest, the joint statement said.

They also directed both sides to intensify efforts in negotiations on a mutually beneficial agreement on the promotion and protection of investment, it said.

India and Russia also welcomed steps to ensure long-term supply of fertilisers to India and discussed the potential establishment of joint ventures in this area.