SIR row: Congress fires 3 questions at Amit Shah
How many infiltrators were detected, how many of their names were deleted post SIR, and how many were deported, asks senior party leader Jairam Ramesh
The Congress on Wednesday (October 14) challenged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide figures on the number of alleged ‘ghuspaithiye’ (infiltrators) identified, removed from electoral rolls and deported after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The party’s response came after Shah criticised the Opposition’s ‘vote chori’ campaign.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X (Formerly Twitter), accused the government of invoking the infiltrator narrative to deflect attention from concerns over eligible voters losing their right to vote.
Also read: ‘Shah Instigated Removal’ of voters: Cong flags large-scale voter deletions in SIR
Hitting back at Shah, Ramesh said, "The reality is that the architects of the 'Shah Instigated Removal' (SIR) exercise are repeatedly trying to divert attention from the real issue by invoking the infiltrator argument. Whereas the truth is that the desperate duo of PM-HM has stripped nearly 14 crore Indians of their constitutional right to vote," the post in Hindi said.
Three questions
He further posed three questions to Shah.
"Here are three very simple and straightforward questions to the Union Home Minister, who has been defending SIR: 1. How many ghuspaithiye were detected? 2. How many ghuspaithiye were deleted? 3. How many ghuspaithiye were deported?" Ramesh asked.
The Congress leader said 100 crore Indians have been put through the SIR process and they deserved to know the results.
"Is he suggesting that these 14 crore Indians are ghuspaithiye? Has there been a massive increase in the number of infiltrators in the country under his oversight as Home Minister?" Ramesh asked.
Amit Shah’s remarks
In his first remarks on the ongoing protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR exercise, Amit Shah on Tuesday (October 13) asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the opposition to be ready for a "crushing defeat" again in 2029 as people are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and claimed that the country can see through the Leader of Opposition's "plan" to get infiltrators registered as voters.
Also read: Is Amit Shah reshaping electoral reform debate with BJP’s core narrative?
In a hard-hitting statement, Shah said that while the SIR started in 2024, the Congress has been losing continuously ever since Rahul Gandhi took over the party leadership.
Criticising Rahul, he said people of India know the Leader of Opposition's plans of "getting infiltrators registered as voters".