Overview

• Speaking at a Dainik Jagran memorial event on Oct. 10, the home minister said illegal entrants for economic or non-religious reasons are infiltrators, distinct from refugees fleeing persecution.
• He cited census data from 1951–2011 to argue that infiltration has affected Hindu-Muslim population shares, noting Hindus at 84% and Muslims at 9.8% in 1951.
• Shah endorsed the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, stressing that only citizens qualify as voters under the Constitution.
• He announced a policy to detect infiltrators, delete their names from voter rolls, and deport them, saying refugees and infiltrators cannot be treated the same.
• Accusing some states and opposition parties of sheltering infiltrators for vote banks, he singled out West Bengal and claimed border areas in Gujarat and Rajasthan do not see such infiltration.