Backing the SIR exercise, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the inclusion of infiltrators in the voters' list pollutes the spirit of the Constitution and asserted that voting rights should only be available to the citizens of the country.
Delivering a lecture in the memory of former editor-in-chief of Dainik Jagran, Narendra Mohan, on the topic of 'infiltration (ghuspaith), demographic change and democracy', the home minister said the Centre will follow the policy of "detect, delete and deport" while dealing with infiltrators.
Shah said infiltration, as well as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission, should not be viewed from a political angle, emphasising that it is a national issue.
"No one should interfere in the SIR exercise as it is the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission," the home minister said.
The Congress has gone into a "denial mode" on the issue of the SIR, Shah said, adding that the exercise took place during the party's government as well.
"The opposition is opposabilities exercise because their vote banks are getting cut...It is EC's constitutional responsibility to clean the voters' list. You can go to court if you have any issues," he said.
He said that a time will come when the opposition will also not be spared.
Mamata Banerjee accused the Narendra Modi government of saffronising the electoral rolls along with the institutions and the festivals of India.
“Complete saffronisation of electoral rolls is going on,” Mamata said addressing a news conference at the state secretariat on Thursday evening.
On Wednesday, Mamata had warned Modi against Union home minister Amit Shah, whom she called Mir Jafar.
The Bengal chief minister repeated the charge from the state secretariat.
“The Mir Jafars think they will be in power forever. There are many cases against them. One day the cat will come out of the bag. Don’t play with NRC. Don’t play with fire. Control yourself. Drop the minister who says names will be deleted or admit a conspiracy is at work,” Mamata said.
Free and fair elections cannot take place unless the voter list is according to the voters' definition, which is being an Indian citizen and attaining the eligible age, he said.
Underlining the difference between an infiltrator and a refugee, Shah said the latter comes to India to save his/her religion, while an infiltrator crosses over the border illegally, not because of religious persecution but because of economic and other reasons.
"Who are infiltrators? Those who have not faced religious persecution and want to come to India illegally for economic or other reasons are infiltrators. If anyone in the world who wants to come here is allowed to do so, our country will become a dharamshala," he said.