Congress considers Bangladeshi infiltrators as vote bank, claims Amit Shah
Borduwa (Assam) (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday accused the Congress of considering Bangladeshi infiltrators, who threatened Assam's people, their culture, land and identity, as its vote bank.
Addressing a public rally here, Shah said the Centre would identify all illegal immigrants from the neighbouring country, not only from Assam but also from the rest of India.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only "ensured the protection of the cultural identity of the Assamese people but also focused on all-around development of the state".
The home minister inaugurated the Rs 227 crore redevelopment project of the Batadrava Than, the birthplace of Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva, here in Nagaon district.
Shah said it was a historic occasion that the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardeva has been "freed from encroachment".
"The state government, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has freed over 1 lakh bighas of land from Bangladeshi infiltrators," he said.
"Give the BJP another five years to ensure infiltrator-free Assam," he told the people at the rally.
''We will identify all Bangladeshi infiltrators not only from Assam but also from the rest of India'', he said.
Sankardeva had given the call of 'Ek Bharat', which the PM is now following, Shah added.
''The Prime Minister has taken steps to ensure peace and development in Assam, which is not only on paper but a reality," he said.
The BJP government during the last 11 years have signed peace accords with various militant outfits in the state and 92 per cent of the clauses of these agreements have been fulfilled, he added.
VIDEO | Nagaon: Addressing a public rally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah) says, "Congress treated infiltrators - who threatened the people, culture and identity of Assam - as its vote bank."#AmitShah #Assam #Congress
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 29, 2025
(Full VIDEO available on PTI Videos –… pic.twitter.com/n5FSa7mWeY
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.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
