The Congress on Monday went all out to punch holes in Union home minister Amit Shah’s assertion that only the BJP could help free Assam from infiltration and flood.

PCC president Ripun Bora, citing figures from a release by the Press Information Bureau on Rajya Sabha questions, said that in nine years between 2005 and 2013 under the UPA rule, 82,728 illegal Bangladeshis were deported from the country, while the figure was only 1,822 in four years between 2014 and 2017 under the NDA government.

An average of 9,192 illegal Bangladeshis were deported annually under the UPA regime against 415 under the NDA rule, according to the data.

According to the figures cited by Bora, the highest (14,916) were deported under the UPA regime in 2005 and the lowest (5,234) in 2013. Under the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, the highest (989) were deported in 2014 and the lowest (51) in 2017.

Shah had on Sunday made a strong pitch for a second straight term at Dispur for the ruling BJP to “make” Assam “free” from infiltration, flood, corruption, terrorism and pollution. Shah had said at a rally in Nalbari: “Please tell me can the Congress and Badruddin Ajmal stop infiltrators?

They will allow infiltrators to come in because they are their vote bank. Only the Narendra Modi-led BJP government can free Assam from infiltrators.”Assam goes to polls in April-May.

Countering Shah, Bora said the figures speak for themselves.

“As far as Assam is concerned, the state government has said they have deported only four illegal Bangladeshis in the last four years! And Union home minister Amit Shah asserts it is only BJP that can only free Assam from infiltrators! The BJP as usual is misleading the people of Assam as it has always done,” he said.

Bora wanted to know from Shah the fate of the National Register of Citizens, an important tool for checking influx and why was the Citizenship (Amendment) Act “imposed” in “violation” of the 1985 Assam Accord, which had fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal foreigners.

The CAA, on the other hand, makes it easier for non-Muslims who entered India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till December 2014 to gain Indian citizenship.

“The NRC was completed last year. Can the home minister tell us what are they doing for its implementation? He was the one who had proudly said all ghuspetiyas (infiltrators numbering over 40 lakh) will be expelled after declaration of the first updated draft. The final list saw the exclusion of over 19 lakh. But till now nothing has happened.

“The rejection slips have also not been issued so that the excluded could move the foreigners tribunals to prove their citizenship” Bora said.

Flagging the CAA issue, Bora said: “You claim you are the only party that could check influx but with the CAA you have rolled out the red carpet for infiltrators, putting in danger the culture and language of the Assamese!”

The Congress also tried to expose the chinks in Shah’s assertion on checking the devastating floods that visit Assam every year and leave in its wake a trail of destruction, something which the state government cannot tackle without central assistance.

Amit Shah with other BJP leaders at the Nalbari rally on Sunday Telegraph picture

“It has come to light from a CAG report that the flood relief package was reduced by 60 per cent in the last six years. Moreover, between 2014 and 2020, states received between Rs 400 crore and 13,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund. But Assam, which suffers floods every year, received only Rs 284.93 crore in 2019-20. And the BJP asserts it can solve the flood problem. How can it check floods by curtailing funds?” Bora asked.

The Congress also castigated Shah for branding it communal for tying up with the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala and the AIUDF in Assam.

“Neither the Constitution nor the Election Commission has branded these two parties as communal. Can the BJP explain why it tied up with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, a party which declared Afzal Guru (convicted for the 2001 Parliament attack) as a martyr?” he asked.

Shah had referred to the IUML as the Muslim League.

“If the Congress and the AIUDF are communal, then why is the BJP running zila parishads in several districts, including Darrang and Nagaon, with the help of the AIUDF?

“The BJP is always trying to mislead and polarise voters along communal lines, deploy a divide and rule policy but the people of Assam have seen through this and have already made up their mind to vote out it out,” Bora said.

On Shah’s assertion that the government was alive to issues confronting the tea community, including daily wage, Bora asked what was the government doing to accord Scheduled Tribe status to the tea tribes and five other communities of the state.

Senior Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi said a “Lakshman rekha” has been drawn for all the constituents of the six-party grand alliance, including the AIUDF.

“We will not tolerate anybody crossing the line even if it is the AIUDF,” Bordoloi said in reference to a purported communal statement made by AIUDF chief Ajmal during a public rally last week.

Bora said nobody should issue any statement that could hurt the sentiments of others.