Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Congress and the INDIA bloc, accusing them of defending 'illegal migrants' by opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Speaking in Guwahati after inaugurating the new terminal of Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Modi said the government was taking strict steps to stop infiltration and identify 'infiltrators', while the Opposition had, according to him, adopted anti-national agendas.
He noted that even the Supreme Court had emphasised removing infiltrators, warning that defending them could threaten indigenous communities by allowing encroachment on land and forests. Modi accused successive Congress governments in Assam of prioritising vote-bank politics over development, leading to decades of neglect.
Modi said the development of Assam and the Northeast was never part of the Congress agenda. He alleged that during the party’s rule, infiltrators were allowed to grab forests and land in the state, posing a threat to Assam’s security and identity. He asserted that the BJP government was now correcting the mistakes that, according to him, the Congress had committed for decades in the region.
Highlighting the BJP’s governance, the Prime Minister said that over the past 11 years, projects worth lakhs of crores of rupees had been launched across Assam and the Northeast, with the state now achieving new developmental milestones. He also unveiled a statue of Assam’s first Chief Minister, Gopinath Bordoloi, and said the new airport terminal, designed to handle 1.3 crore passengers annually, reflected the government’s commitment to the region’s growth.
Modi said development under the party’s “double-engine government” was flowing uninterrupted in Assam, drawing a comparison with the mighty Brahmaputra.
The Prime Minister further linked the Congress era with prolonged violence in the Northeast, stating that keeping the region away from development had come at a heavy cost to the country’s unity, security and integrity. He said that while violence flourished for decades under previous governments, the situation had begun to change over the past 10–11 years. Districts that were once considered violence-affected, he said, were now progressing as aspirational districts.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi intensified his political offensive against the All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Congress-led Opposition at the national level, urging voters in Bengal to support the BJP to form a “double-engine government” in the next Assembly elections.
Addressing a BJP rally at Taherpur in West Bengal’s Nadia district through an audio message after dense fog prevented his helicopter from landing, Modi alleged that the state was reeling under what he described as a “maha jungle raj”, marked by corruption, nepotism and appeasement under the Trinamool Congress regime. He questioned the ruling party’s opposition to development initiatives and appealed to voters to back the BJP to ensure stronger coordination between the Centre and the state.
The Prime Minister apologised to the gathering for his inability to be physically present, citing adverse weather conditions that prevented his helicopter from landing. He said the formation of a BJP government in the state would accelerate development and improve Centre–state coordination, adding that ongoing highway projects would boost economic activity and tourism, and reduce travel time between Kolkata and Siliguri by nearly two hours.
Modi alleged that the TMC was opposing the exercise to protect infiltrators. He accused the party of shielding illegal migrants and said slogans should be directed against infiltrators, not against him.
Referring to the recent Assembly election results in Bihar, Modi said the BJP-led NDA’s victory there was a signal of political change, asserting that a similar outcome awaited West Bengal and that the so-called “maha jungle raj” would end with the formation of a BJP government in the state.
"People voted for NDA. I had said the Ganga flows from Bihar to Bengal, and Bihar has shown the path to victory in Bengal and a way out of jungle Raj," he said.
(With inputs from Agencies)