New Delhi (TIP)- Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the government will throw out every “ghuspetiya” from the country and alleged that some political parties are opposing the SIR exercise as they want the names of infiltrators to remain on the electoral rolls.
Addressing the BSF Diamond Jubilee (61st Raising Day) celebrations in Bhuj, Shah said SIR is the “purification” of the voters’ list.
Shah’s remarks on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ rolls came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a strongly worded letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, asking him to immediately halt the exercise, which she claimed was “chaotic, coercive and dangerous.”
Banerjee alleged that the SIR of the electoral rolls in Bengal had reached a “deeply alarming stage” and was being conducted in an “unplanned, dangerous” manner.
“Today, the BSF is engaged in preventing infiltration at all borders of the country. Stopping infiltration is not only essential for national security but also to protect the democratic system from being polluted,” Shah said.
Describing SIR as the “purification” of the voters’ list, Shah accused some political parties of trying to weaken the government’s campaign against illegal infiltrators.
“These parties are opposing the ongoing SIR and the voter list purification process being carried out by the Election Commission because they want to ensure that the names of infiltrators remain on the electoral rolls,” he added.
At the Diamond Jubilee celebration, Shah asserted: “Today, I want to make it very clear that we will deport every single infiltrator from this country, one by one. This is our resolve (Main is Heerak Jayanti Samaroh mein bahut spasht karna chahta hoon ki hum is desh mein se ek-ek ghuspaithiye ko chun-chun kar bahar nikalenge; yeh hamara pran hai). This is the resolve of the Modi government to deport each and every infiltrator from the country.
“Who will be the chief minister of any state in the country, or who will be the prime minister, is a decision that can only be made by the citizens of India. Infiltrators do not have the right to pollute our democratic system and influence our democratic decisions,” Shah said.
Now, Chinese nationals can apply for tourist visa from all Indian consulates
In yet another sign of thaw in ties between India and China, the government has expanded ‘tourist visa’ facility for Chinese nationals, allowing them to apply for visa from all Indian embassies and consulates.
This is an expansion of visa facility that India resumed for tourist visas for Chinese nationals in July this year. It had started only through Indian mission in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The extension to allow the visa facility shows the growing trajectory of bilateral ties. The Ministry of Home Affairs was in the loop of decision making as the tourist visa facility was suspended due to security-related issues. Tourist visas for Chinese citizens were suspended following the violent Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, which plunged the relations between the two countries to their lowest point in six decades. The expansion of tourist visa facility marks another step in the steady normalisation of ties after a tense four-year period triggered by a military stand-off in April 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Earlier, direct flights between India and China, which were stopped since early 2020 due to Covid scare, resumed in October this year.
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