BJP will trace, drive out infiltrators after 2019 polls: Amit Shah
Shajapur/Barwani, Nov 15: BJP chief Amit Shah Thursday said his party would trace and drive out infiltrators from the country after winning the 2019 general elections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
Addressing a poll rally, Shah said infiltrators were coming to India since 1971 and formed the "vote bank" of opposition parties like the Congress and TMC.
Shah said after 40 lakh people were left out in the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, leaders like Congress president Rahul Gandhi, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav "whined as if their granny had died".
"All of them (objected to the NRC). As if their granny died. Why were they all in pain?" he said, accusing Gandhi of being more concerned with the human rights of "infiltrators" than victims of bomb blasts carried out by these "intruders".
"Let the Congress cry, we are not going to stop. You elect Narendra Modi's government in 2019. It will trace and drive out infiltrators not only from Assam, but from the entire country," Shah said, adding national security was most important for his party.
Shah also lauded the Modi-led government for the army's surgical strike on terror launch pads across the border post Uri attack in 2016, adding Gandhi did not understand the value of martyrdom of soldiers.
The BJP chief also sought to underscore difference between the Modi-led NDA government and the previous Manmohan Singh dispensation at the Centre when it came to "doing justice" to Madhya Pradesh.
The Singh-led government allocated Rs 1.34 lakh crore to Madhya Pradesh under 13th Finance Commission as against Rs 3.44 lakh crore given by the Modi regime under the 14th Finance Commission, he said.
"I want to ask (Congress leaders Jyotiraditya) Scindia Maharaj, Diggy Raja (Digvijay Singh) and also Kamal Nath: Tell us why this injustice was done to Madhya Pradesh," he said.
Shah said the Modi government brought out 129 schemes for welfare of farmers, backward classes, Dalits, poor, youth and women. "We brought 129 schemes. Rahul Baba (Gandhi) listen carefully, if you have ears and remove your Italian chashmah (spectacles)," Shah said, alluding to the origins of the Congress president's mother Sonia Gandhi.
Seeking to underscore differences between the BJP and Congress, Shah said his party had already announced Chouhan as its face for the chief ministerial job. "Congress should tell who is its leader in the state?" he added.
Shah said scams of over Rs 12 lakh took place during the 10-year rule of the Congress. "Rahul Gandhi neither speaks about the work his party did in Madhya Pradesh nor about his party's (poll) agenda. I don't understand if he is campaigning for Congress or BJP. He is suffering from Modi phobia," Shah said.
Shah also reached out to tribals in the poll-bound state and informed them of several welfare measures being taken by the party-led governments at the Centre and in the state.
"Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had opened a separate Tribal Welfare ministry which the Congress couldn't do before," Shah said.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is locked in a direct contest with the Congress, which is out of power for 15 years in a row.
The elections to the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on November 28. Polls results will be out on December 11.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Constitution amendment bill defeat was BJP’s first embarrassment in Parliament: Margaret Alva
Bengaluru (PTI): Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva on Monday said that the constitution amendment bill's defeat in the Lok Sabha on April 17 was the first embarrassment faced by the BJP-led government in Parliament.
She also alleged that the BJP has no real concern regarding women’s reservation.
The opposition INDIA bloc defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill that sought to facilitate the implementation of women's reservation by expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha, apart from making changes to delimitation.
"This is the first embarrassment and defeat faced by the NDA government in the Lok Sabha," the former Governor of Gujarat and Rajasthan said in a press conference here.
According to her, the women’s reservation has been under discussion since the time of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, a 14-member committee was formed, and I was appointed as its chairperson. We prepared a report after studying what needed to be done to enhance the dignity of women across 12 sectors. This was submitted to the government in 1989,” Alva, 84-year-old veteran Congress leader, said.
She said political empowerment for women was emphasised in that report, without which, empowerment in any other sphere is not possible.
“Many people in Parliament used to question me — should we vacate seats for women and stay at home cooking? Why insist on this? Has anyone written these seats in your name? This debate has been ongoing since 1975,” Alva explained.
The Congress leader said Rajiv Gandhi had introduced 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies.
“At that time, all opposition parties united and defeated the Bill,” she pointed out.
Again, during the tenure of former Prime Minister late P V Narasimha Rao, the 33 per cent reservation Bill in local bodies was passed.
“It was the Congress party that first introduced women’s reservation. Now they are falsely accusing us of being anti-women,” Alva charged.
In 2023, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed with much fanfare, but it was not immediately implemented.
According to her, a condition was imposed for its implementation that it would be enforced based on census data.
"Once it is in the statute book, what is preventing its implementation? Two years for the census and another two years for delimitation — this means it cannot be implemented by 2029. It was not given in 2024, and there is no possibility even in 2029," Alva charged the BJP-led government at the Centre.
The Congress leader said the BJP is saying that the Bill can be implemented based on the 2011 Census, but when the same suggestion was made in 2023, the BJP rejected it.
On increasing the Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent, she sought to know the basis for it.
“Where did this (idea) come from? Whose advice was taken? Was it decided by the RSS? Or ordered by a court?” Alva asked.
The former union minister said the Constitution amendment bill, which was defeated on April 17 appears to favour certain North Indian states.
“We pay taxes, but they receive greater benefits and allocations. If seats are increased by 50 per cent based on their calculations, we would get only 14 additional seats, while they would get 40. How is this fair?” she questioned.
While 298 members voted in support of the bill in Lok Sabha, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-third majority.
According to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to "operationalise" the women's reservation act before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and Union territory Assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
