New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the election agenda for states like West Bengal, Assam, and Bihar from the ramparts of the Red Fort, where elections are due next year. While issues like Operation Sindoor and GST rate reduction will feature, the most critical theme will be infiltration.
The infiltration debate is directly tied to the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) exercise of Bihar’s voter list, which has triggered uproar from Parliament to the streets. Congress, RJD, and other opposition parties claim SIR is BJP’s tool to cut lakhs of votes, primarily affecting their traditional Muslim base. Beginning today, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav will embark on a 15-day “vote rights yatra” across Bihar to highlight alleged “vote theft,” targeting both the NDA government and the Election Commission.
Prime Minister Modi, meanwhile, termed infiltration a grave conspiracy to change the country’s demography. His declaration has hardened the government’s stance: SIR will not stop with Bihar but extend to West Bengal next. Opposition leaders fear this exercise will directly undermine their voter base, especially in Muslim-dominated regions.
In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress—ordinarily reluctant to rally under Rahul Gandhi—has joined the opposition’s protests, signaling how seriously it views the threat to its political hold. Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee has even challenged the Centre to dissolve Parliament and implement SIR nationwide.
According to government data, infiltrators have acquired ration cards, Aadhaar, and other documents, embedding themselves in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and even Delhi. Officials warn that Hindus may soon become minorities in parts of Bengal and Assam as Bangladeshi Muslims establish strong networks there.
For BJP, infiltration provides both an ideological rallying point and an electoral weapon. Its allies stand firm with the government, determined to highlight infiltration as a national security and demographic threat. For the opposition, however, the Bihar voter list battle has become a prestige fight: if BJP prevails there, infiltration will dominate upcoming Bengal and Assam polls as well.
