BJP slams Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar over ‘infiltrator from Gujarat’ comment

GUWAHATI: Assam Pradesh BJP chief spokesperson Kishore Kumar Upadhyay has lashed out at Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar over a purported controversial remark on infiltration made at a poll rally in Assam’s Bongaigaon, calling him an “irrelevant person” and saying the response would come with election results.

A video circulating on social media shows Kumar at the April 5 rally in Bongaigaon, where he is purportedly heard saying that the “biggest infiltrator” had come from Gujarat and that Union home minister Amit Shah and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma should be “driven out” of the state to safeguard Assam’s interests.




In the purported video, Kumar is heard saying, “All thieves have gathered together and joined BJP. The head of these thieves is the father of Jay Shah. A journalist told me that infiltration is an issue, I said the biggest infiltrator has come from Gujarat and he needs to be chased out of here along with Himanta Biswa Sarma.”

Upadhyay said, “Kanhaiya Kumar does not have the merit to target Amit Shah and Himanta Biswa Sarma. Moreover, the answer to who should be driven out of Assam to safeguard the state’s interest will come on May 4. People have already locked their respective opinion in the EVMs on the polling day,” Upadhyay said.

He added that Kumar and Congress were acting out of frustration, which he said was visible through the campaign, and claimed it was uncertain whether the party would win enough seats to sit on the opposition benches.

BJP state president Dilip Saikia said, “I don’t want to react to Kanhaiya Kumar. Does he know that infiltration happens from Bangladesh, not within the country?”

Kumar’s remarks come amid a wider row after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sought to make a comparison between people in Keralam and in Gujarat as he attacked PM Narendra Modi and CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
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