RANCHI: Setting a 2024 deadline for completing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country, Union home minister and BJP president Amit Shah on Monday declared at poll rallies in Jharkhand that "each and every infiltrator will be expelled before the next general elections".

Speaking at Chakradharpur and Baharagora, Shah trained his guns on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was also in the state on Monday to campaign for his party. "Rahul baba says, 'Don’t expel them. Where will they go, what will they eat?’ I want to ask him, are these immigrants his cousins? Let Rahul baba say whatever he wants to, I assure you the BJP government led by Narendra Modi will implement NRC across India, and all infiltrators will be thrown out before we come to you to seek votes the next time," he said, referring to the next Lok Sabha polls.

Congress & JMM in alliance only to grab power: Shah

Shah said national matters like uprooting terrorism and Naxalism, and construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya were as important as local issues in the Jharkhand elections. Harping on the NDA government’s response to crossborder terrorism, he said, "Many jawans from Jharkhand are involved in protecting our borders. During the 10 years of the UPA government, anyone from Pakistan could enter the country and trigger blasts. Our jawans were beheaded. Under the BJP government, we avenged Uri and Pulwama by entering Pakistan and destroying terror camps."

The BJP chief also raised the Article 370 and Ayodhya issues and accused Congress of deliberately keeping these pending for 70 years. "Would you like to see a huge Ram temple built in Ayodhya?" he asked at both the rallies, receiving huge applause. "For 70 years, they sat on these issues just because of vote-bank politics. Modiji scrapped Article 370 and J&K became a part of the country forever," he said as crowds cheered.

Targeting opposition parties, the home minister said JMM working president Hemant Soren had entered into an alliance with the Congress 'only to grab power’. "The Congress was opposing the movement for a separate state when Guruji (JMM president Shibu Soren) was fighting for it. When the Congress was in power, it fired upon the students agitating for a separate state and attacked them with batons. Now, Hemant is sitting in the lap of the same Congress so that he can become CM," Shah said."



In Video: 2024 deadline for NRC, all infiltrators to be expelled by then: Amit Shah