NEW DELHI: From states as afar as Bihar and Uttarakhand, home minister Amit Shah is leading BJP’s push to put the issue of infiltrators on the front burner with an eye on not only the upcoming assembly elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam where it has a certain resonance, but also on shaping the national agenda by coopting a core party plank into its central theme.Shah, who has long championed national security and demography concerns over the alleged influx of infiltrators from Bangladesh, recently stepped up his efforts by camping for three days in Bihar’s Seemanchal region, which borders the eastern neighbour, and then sending out a stern message from Uttarakhand last week.He chose the launch of several development initiatives in Haridwar to underscore the Modi govt’s determination over the issue. “From Kedarnath to Kanyakumari wherever infiltrators are present across the country, we will identify and remove each and every infiltrator from India,” he said, accusing opposition parties of trying to shield them as they see their vote bank in them.BJP has framed its strong backing to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls – which has in turn drawn protests from the opposition for its alleged intent to benefit the governing party – around its potential to identify and delete illegal voters, a large section of whom are likely to be illegals. More than any other state, SIR has become a political flashpoint between the Mamata Banerjee govt in poll-bound West Bengal and BJP, leading to frequent interventions from Supreme Court.BJP has cited “unnatural” surge in Muslim voters in different parts of the state, which borders Bangladesh, to back its claim of the presence of infiltrators in large numbers. With SC giving a go ahead to SIR while offering some directives, TMC has nuanced its opposition but questioned the process and accused EC of working with BJP to target voters unsympathetic to the national party.In his speech in Haridwar, the home minister said over 10,000 encroachments, which are often allegedly linked to infiltrators, were demolished in the hilly state under its the BJP govt’s action against them. The opposition, on the other hand, are shielding them, he claimed in a message meant as much for people in the state as outside.
