Election in Haryana: Amit Shah was addressing a public meeting in Haryana (File)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said every illegal immigrant in the country will be sent back before the next national election.

"When we come again to seek your votes in 2024, we would have evicted every single intruder from this country," the BJP president said.

He was addressing the first of his three public meetings of the day in Haryana, where elections to the state assembly will be held on October 21.

He attacked the Congress over criticism of the "shastra pooja" performed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the Rafale fighter jet, which was handed over to India on Tuesday.

"Should the shastra pujan tradition be observed or not? Should we keep this tradition alive or not?" he asked the gathering.

Referring to the row in Assam over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said, "For 70 years, these intruders have put a question mark on our security."

"The BJP government is committed to evicting all of them from country through the NRC," he added.

"Should these intruders be evicted or not?" Mr Shah asked the gathering.

"Ask the Congress people why they opposed the triple talaq (bill), the scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A. Why are they opposing the NRC?" he said.

"Rajnath Singh ji performed shastra pooja in France but the Congress people felt very bad about this too," he said.

Mr Shah attacked the previous state governments led by Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Indian National Lok Dal's OP Chautala, accusing them of playing caste politics.