Dehradun, Oct 14 — Veteran Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Wednesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's allegations that Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was "attempting to shield infiltrators", urging for the deportation of illegal Bangladeshis staying in the country.
Rawat also said that there is no point in questioning Rahul Gandhi as it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA which has been in power for the past 12 years.
On Tuesday, Home Minister Shah said: "I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that his strategy to protect infiltrators through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has been very well understood by the people and they will now not fall into your trap. Also, I want to tell Rahul Gandhi to prepare himself for losing in the 2029 (Lok Sabha) polls."
Union Minister Shah's reaction came as Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar continues to face heat over allegations of irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls.
Speaking to IANS, Harish Rawat said: "Border security is in your (BJP-led Centre's) hands. No matter how strict the steps you take, we will support those actions. If infiltration is increasing and terrorism is still flourishing inside Kashmir, then questions should be asked to those who have been in power for the last 10 to 11 years. What is the point of directing these questions at Rahul Gandhi?"
"Strict action should be taken against infiltrators. If possible, as we have been saying, deport them. There are crores of illegal Bangladeshis residing in India, why are you not deporting them?" he added.
Further referring to the BJP's counters against the Opposition's "vote chori" allegations, Rawat said: "Their anger is understandable as their (BJP's) vote theft has been caught. Rahul Gandhi has been raising his voice against it earlier as well, and today, he is leading the INDIA bloc."
"Now, the one who was made to carry out the theft stands openly exposed as a perpetrator, and the faces of those who were orchestrating the theft are also becoming clear," the former Uttarakhand CM remarked, targeting the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the BJP-led Union government.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Home Minister Shah had lashed out at Rahul Gandhi, who had asserted that he would continue the "fight to restore democracy" in the country, saying that the Congress has been losing polls ever since he assumed the party's leadership.