Slams Cong-RJD for opposing Op Sindoor
STATE TIMES NEWS
SITAMARHI (BIHAR): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday slammed opposition parties for objecting to the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar, asserting that infiltrators have “no right to vote”.
He also alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was “indulging in politics over the SIR exercise” in the state.
Addressing a public meeting at Punauradham in Sitamarhi district, Shah said, “Names of infiltrators must be removed from the voters’ lists. They have no right to vote. But the RJD and the Congress are opposing the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar because the names of infiltrators are being deleted from the lists.”
Alleging that a “vote chori model” was being used in many constituencies across the country, Gandhi said that the judiciary needs to get involved in this because “the democracy that we love so much, does not exist anymore”.
On the opposition parties’ stand on Operation Sindoor, Shah claimed that terrorist attacks were “frequent in India during the UPA regime”.
“But now India is different under Narendra Modi ji’s regime. Our soldiers killed terrorists in their hideouts. But RJD and Congress leaders are opposing Operation Sindoor,” he claimed.
Shah also asserted that the NDA will form the government with a thumping majority in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.
“The RJD did nothing for the development of Bihar. (RJD supremo) Lalu Prasad ji, as a central minister, sanctioned Rs 1,132 crore for railway infrastructure in Bihar, while our govt provided Rs 10,066 crore in FY’26,” he claimed.
Shah also alleged that the RJD “encouraged hooliganism” during its rule in the state.
Addressing a rally, shortly after he laid the foundation stone for a nearly Rs 900 crore project for giving a facelift to “Punaura Dham”, a shrine situated at the place where goddess Sita is believed to have been discovered by King Janaka.
The Union home minister also mocked the opposition parties for failing to “come up with a single claim or objection” regarding wrongful deletion of genuine voters or inclusion of those who were not eligible to vote.
Notably, as part of the SIR, the Election Commission last week came out with its “draft electoral rolls”, dropping names of more than 65 lakh voters who had either died, or migrated to some other state permanently or were enrolled as voters at more than one place.
Widely regarded as the BJP’s principal strategist, Shah claimed that he foresaw “a certain victory for the NDA in Bihar”, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president, who was present on the occasion.
“It appears that the opposition realises that it is staring at a defeat in the upcoming assembly polls. So they are trying to come up with ways to explain it away. Their vehement criticism of the special intensive revision is just such an attempt”, added the BJP leader.
The Union home minister also charged the RJD-Congress combine with having “opposed” inside Parliament Operation Sindoor, launched in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
The function was also marked by the flagging off of an Amrit Bharat train connecting Sitamarhi to Delhi.
In his speech, Shah also said that the Modi government, in the last couple of years, has launched “railway projects for Bihar worth over Rs 10,000 crore, in contrast with the UPA regime, in which Lalu Prasad was the Railway Minister, and just about Rs 1,000 crore were spent on the state”.
Known to be the closest aide of the Prime Minister, Shah also underscored the respect Modi has for the cultural heritage of Bihar, recalling instances of the latter presenting specimens of “Madhubani paintings” to visiting foreign dignitaries.
Striking a chord with the public which attended the programme braving heavy rains, he said, “Legend has it that King Janaka was tilling the land here with a golden plough as he was told that it would bring rains to the drought-ridden area. Heavens opened up as soon as he discovered Sita Mata.
“And what a coincidence it is that we have a downpour on a day we have launched a project devoted to the goddess, which is in line with the Indian ethos that has always put women on a pedestal”.