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Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh on Wednesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks that "India is not a Dharamshala", alleging that it was the BJP itself that was turning the country into a "Dharamshala" and questioning the government over its claims to tackle illegal infiltration.
Reacting to Shah's remarks, Singh said that merely raising the issue in the media was not enough and that the government must take concrete steps against illegal infiltrators. "It is the BJP itself that has been turning the country into a 'Dharamshala'," Singh told ANI. He questioned why the government, which has been in power at the Centre for more than two decades and rules in a majority of states, had not been able to address the issue effectively. "As for the issue of infiltrators, mere talk in the media won't suffice; the responsibility for addressing this lies with the government. They are in power in two-thirds of the states and have been governing the country for over two decades," the Congress leader said. Singh further asked why the government had not expelled illegal infiltrators if it had identified them as a major national security concern. "Yet, if they keep harping on about infiltrators without actually expelling them, who is stopping them? Did the Congress party stop them? Did any other party prevent them from evicting infiltrators? There must be a solution to this," he said. Singh's remarks came after Shah, while addressing the valedictory session of the Intelligence Bureau's National Security Strategy Conference in New Delhi, said that the government aimed to make the country "infiltrator-free in a very short time". "This country is not a Dharamshala, and only the citizens of the country have the right to live in this country. Infiltrators are a threat to the country's security, economy and demographic change," Shah said. Shah said that after visiting land-border states over the past eight months, the Centre had shared a quadrangular border security approach with states as part of its strategy to combat illegal infiltration. The Home Minister also outlined several other national security priorities during the conference, including the implementation of three new criminal laws, strengthening the fight against narcotics and improving intelligence gathering through integrated databases and artificial intelligence. He directed police forces across states to implement the Narcotics Control Vision Document 2026-2029 and emphasised the need to "Detect, Disrupt and Destroy" drug networks. Shah also stressed the importance of strengthening internal security as a prerequisite for achieving the target of a developed India by 2047. The two-day conference, attended by more than 850 participants, focused on emerging threats including sub-aerial systems, information warfare, cyber-related challenges, blue economy security and bio-security. (ANI)
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