The Congress in Goa lodged a complaint with the Election Commission on Saturday, demanding that a police complaint be filed against BJP president Amit Shah for his statement at a rally in West Bengal. “We have promised in our manifesto that once Narendra Modi forms a government again, we will implement the National Register of Citizens in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs,” Mr. Shah is reported to have said on Thursday.
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“This is a direct threat to Christians, Muslims and those communities that have not found a mention in the BJP leader’s speech, who are living in Goa and who fear the definition of infiltrators will be used against them to dislodge them from Goa and India,” party spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar said in his complaint. The minority communities accounted for over one-third of Goa’s population, he said.
“Amit Shah is directly and indirectly intimidating Goa’s minority communities into voting for BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha election and the Assembly byelections in Shiroda, Mapusa, Mandrem and Panaji, scheduled for April 23 and May 19,” the complaint said.