Hyderabad: Home Minister Amit Shah used a BJP padayatra in Hyderabad on Monday to attack the Opposition over the Special Intensive Revision, calling the INDIA bloc's Delhi rally on Sunday a "save infiltrators" rally instead of a "save votes" one.
Shah began with a visit to the Bhagyalakshmi temple and then walked from Basheerbagh to Moazzam Jahi Market. At the evening meeting he paid tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the revolutionary Komaram Bheem and Ramji Gond, and said Hyderabad would not have joined the country had Patel not forced the Nizam's surrender.
He dismissed the allegation that 13 crore voters had been struck off the rolls. Six crore were people who had shifted their place of residence and three crore were deceased, he said. "There are three crore persons who have entered India illegally. Should their votes not be removed?" he asked.
The BJP had won in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam even before the SIR began, Shah said, adding that the Congress blamed EVMs when it lost and celebrated them when it won. He described the party as being "on a ventilator".
Taking a swipe at Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Shah said he could become Prime Minister only in a mock Parliament. He also accused the Congress and the INDIA bloc of conspiring to stall the SIR and of wanting to use infiltrators as a vote bank.
Shah challenged the Congress to a debate in Parliament on the SIR and on EVMs, asking whether the party was ready for one. The BJP is running "Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao" marches across the country, with more planned in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand on Tuesday.