Shah is felicitated at a BJP youth event in Guwahati. Congress is against SIR as infiltrators are being removed from rolls, he said

GUWAHATI:: Union home minister Amit Shah accused Congress of turning Assam into a “safe haven for infiltrators” and launched a string of projects in the state on Sunday, hours before EC announced the assembly election schedule. Shah alleged that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi opposed the SIR of electoral rolls because “names of infiltrators were being removed”. He said that every infiltrator will eventually have to leave the country. Shah also targeted Rahul over his “chai-pakoda” protest on Parliament steps and criticised Congress’s demonstration at the AI Summit, alleging such actions “defamed India globally”. He accused the opposition of damaging India’s image. Shah alleged previous Congress govts had siphoned off Rs 150 crore a year from health budget during their 15 years in govt and contrasted it with BJP’s expansion of medical colleges, seats and cancer care facilities. He inaugurated and launched healthcare projects worth Rs 2,092 crore, including Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati. He also virtually opened cancer centres in Golaghat and Tinsukia, laid the foundation for super-speciality hospitals in Diphu, Jorhat, and Barpeta, and announced a Swasthya Bhawan in Guwahati and a district hospital in Abhayapuri. Citing higher institutional deliveries and improvements in infant and maternal mortality indicators, Shah credited CM Himanta Biswa Sarma with bringing Assam’s healthcare system “on par with Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.” At BJYM’s Yuva Shakti Samaroh, attended by over 1.5 lakh youths, Shah called the gathering a “Mahakumbh of Yuvas” and predicted the “largest-ever mandate” for BJP in Assam. He also highlighted peace accords with insurgent groups, from Bodo Accord in 2020 to ULFA agreement in 2024, and said more than 10,800 weapons had been surrendered, bringing an end to decades of militancy.