Congress asks Amit Shah how many infiltrators were caught, removed and deported after SIR

The Congress on Wednesday put three questions to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The party was responding to Shah's criticism of the Opposition's "vote chori" protests. It asked how many "infiltrators" had been caught, how many removed and how many deported after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that the "infiltrator" argument was being used to divert attention from the real issue. According to him, the real issue is that people are being deprived of the right to vote.

In his Hindi post, Ramesh said the architects of what he called the "Shah Instigated Removal" (SIR) exercise were repeatedly trying to divert attention from the real issue with the infiltrator argument. He said the truth was that the Prime Minister and Home Minister duo had taken away the constitutional right to vote of around 14 crore Indians.

Ramesh then put three direct and simple questions to the Home Minister. He said that since the Home Minister was defending SIR, he should say: first, how many infiltrators were caught; second, how many infiltrators were removed; and third, how many infiltrators were deported.

The Congress leader said 100 crore Indians had to go through the SIR process and had a right to know its results.

Ramesh also asked: "Do they want to say that these 14 crore Indians are infiltrators? Has the number of infiltrators in the country risen sharply under their watch as Home Minister?"

Shah's remarks, made on Tuesday, were his first comments on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the protests against SIR. Shah told Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition to be ready for another "crushing defeat" in 2029, saying the public was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also claimed the country was watching the Leader of the Opposition's "plan" to get infiltrators registered as voters.