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.
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Israel's military says it has fully disabled Yemen's main airport with airstrikes
Jerusalem, May 6 (AP): Israel's military said Tuesday it launched airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, fully disabling the country's international airport in the capital, Sanaa, and striking several power plants.
The strikes, the second in two days, came after Israel launched airstrikes in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike the previous day on Israel's international airport.
The Houthis' satellite news channel al-Masirah reported the strikes, confirming the airport had been hit.
Footage aired on Israeli television showed thick black plumes of smoke rising above the skyline of Sanaa. Social media video purported to show multiple strikes around Sanaa, with black smoke rising as the thumps of the blast echoed against the surrounding mountains.
There was no immediate information on any casualties.
Tuesday's strike came shortly after the military issued a warning on social media for people to evacuate the area of Yemen's international airport.
“We urge you to immediately evacuate the area of the airport and to warn anyone nearby to distance themselves immediately,” spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on social media, attaching a map of Sanaa International Airport. “Failure to evacuate the area endangers your lives.”
On Monday night, Israel targeted the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen's Red Sea province of Hodeida, killing at least one person and wounding 35.
The rebels' media office said at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port. Others hit a cement factory in the district of Bajil, 55 kilometres northeast of Hodeida, the rebels said. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed at least four people and wounded 39 others.
The Houthis on Sunday launched a missile that struck an access road near Israel's main airport near Tel Aviv, briefly halting flights and commuter traffic. Four people were lightly injured.
It was the first time a missile struck the grounds of Israel's main airport, Ben Gurion, since the October 2023 start of the war in Gaza. It prompted a flurry of flight cancellations. While most missiles launched by the Houthis have been intercepted, some have penetrated Israel's missile defence systems, causing damage.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, raising their profile as the last member of Iran's self-described “Axis of Resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel.
The US military under President Donald Trump has launched an intensified campaign of airstrikes targeting the Houthis since March 15.
Israel has repeatedly struck against the rebels in Yemen. It struck Hodeida and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv.
In September, Israel struck Hodeida again, killing at least four people after a missile targeted Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning to the country. In December, Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in Hodeida.
