Guwahati, Feb 21: Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared on Saturday that India, having freed itself from Naxals, will also eliminate infiltrators by removing illegal immigrants not only from electoral rolls but from the country entirely within the next five years.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for a new campus of the Assam Police 10th Battalion built on land reclaimed from infiltrator encroachments Shah emphasized that eviction from encroached areas is insufficient. “They must also be sent out of India,” he asserted.

He launched a sharp attack on Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, recalling the Congress leader’s past promise to remove infiltrators. “Congress can’t do so as illegal immigrants are its votebank,” Shah charged.

Shah also predicted that Assam would emerge as the industrial hub of eastern and northeastern India over the next five years. Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are slated for March-April.