Goa Congress demands police complaint against Amit Shah for making communal statement at West Bengal rally

In a complaint to the EC, the Goa Congress on Saturday demanded to file a police complaint against BJP President Amit Shah, accusing him of making a communal statement by "threatening" to weed out all infiltrators in India, barring Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Shah, at an election rally in West Bengal on Thursday, had reportedly said: "We have promised in our manifesto that if Narendra Modi forms government once again, we will implement National Register of Citizens in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs."

Sunil Kawthankar, chief spokesperson of the Goa Congress, said: "This is a direct threat to Christians, Muslims and those communities who have not found mention in the BJP leader's speech..."

He said that the statement violated Article 25-28 of the Constitution.

The complaint by the Goa Congress to the Election Commission reads: "Amit Shah is directly and indirectly intimidating minority voters of Goa from this community to coerce them into voting for the BJP candidates in North Goa and South Goa parliamentary seats and Shiroda, Mapusa, Mandrem and Panaji Assembly seats..."

Elections for the two Lok Sabha seats and three Assembly seats will be held on April 23 and May 19, respectively.

The Goa Congress urged the EC to file a criminal complaint against Shah.

Minorities, Muslims and Christians account for more than one third of the coastal state's population.