GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Congress for speaking up in defence of “infiltrators” (illegal migrants) by criticising the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the new terminal building of Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here, Modi said the government was working to stop infiltration and identify infiltrators, but the Congress and the INDIA bloc had openly adopted what he termed “anti-national agendas”.

“The Supreme Court also spoke about removing the infiltrators, but they (opposition parties) are giving statements in defence of the infiltrators,” the Prime Minister said.

He said the Election Commission had launched the Special Intensive Revision to ensure clean elections, but “these people in every corner of the country were troubled”.

“Such people will not protect the interests of Assamese brothers and sisters. They will allow others to occupy your land and forests,” Modi said. “Their anti-national mindset could recreate the violence and unrest of earlier times. Therefore, it is essential that the people of Assam stay vigilant and united, and defeat conspiracies to prevent Assam’s development from being derailed,” he added.

Modi alleged that successive Congress governments in Assam had prioritised vote-bank politics over the interests of indigenous communities.

He also slammed the Congress for allegedly neglecting Assam’s development, stating that development was never on the party’s agenda. He added that his government was correcting mistakes made by the Congress over six to seven decades.