PM's infiltrators remark an 'insult' to people of Bihar: Imran Pratapgarhi

Katihar (Bihar), Aug 23 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement on infiltrators and said the latter's statement is an "insult" to the people of Bihar.

Talking to reporters in Katihar, the Congress leader said, "The statement given by the PM on infiltrators at the public rally in Gayaji on Friday is an insult to the people of Bihar. It is also an insult to more than 65 lakh people whose votes have been deleted in Bihar. People of Bihar will give a befitting reply to BJP and its allies for branding them as infiltrators." The PM must explain how the infiltrators managed to enter Bihar…what the border guarding forces, which come under the Central government, have been doing for the last 11 years?, asked Imran Pratapgarhi.

The PM at a public rally in Gayaji on Friday said, "The increasing number of infiltrators in the country is a matter of great concern. The demography is changing rapidly in the border districts of Bihar. That is why the NDA government has decided that the future of this country will not be allowed to be determined by infiltrators.

"We will not allow infiltrators to snatch away the jobs of Bihar's youth. We will not allow infiltrators to loot the facilities that rightfully belong to the people of Bharat. To deal with this danger, I have announced the launch of the Demography Mission. Very soon, this mission will begin its work—and we will drive out every infiltrator from this country".

Commenting on PM's speech, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, on Saturday said the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar is a "conspiracy" to disenfranchise citizens, promoting the unsubstantiated fact about illegal immigration.

There has not been a single case of illegal immigrants in the Bihar SIR by the Election Commission of India (ECI), but the PM and other leaders are raising the issue of infiltrators just to steal the votes of people in the state ahead of the coming assembly polls, said Bhattacharya. PTI PKD RG