Guwahati, February 21 Asserting that if India can eliminate Naxalism, it can also eliminate infiltrators, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that illegal immigrants would be removed not only from the electoral rolls but also from the country within the next five years.
Shah was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for a new campus of the Assam Police 10th Battalion, which he said would be constructed on land freed from encroachment by infiltrators.
"However, it is not enough to simply evict the infiltrators from the encroached land, as they will go and settle elsewhere... They must be removed from the country," he said.
Attacking Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Shah said that the Congress leader had once said that infiltrators would be removed, but the "Congress cannot do so as illegal immigrants are its voting base".
The Congress' policy of protecting infiltrators has threatened Assam's "jati" (people), "mati" (land), and "bheti" (foundation), he alleged.
"If the Congress is committed to eliminate infiltrators, I challenge Rahul Gandhi to mention it in its manifesto," he said.
Shah said that Assam will become the industrial hub of eastern and northeastern India within the next five years.
Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are expected to be held in March-April.