Shah says sacrifices of soldiers will not go in vain, slams Cong

GUWAHATI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Sunday said the sacrifices of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in the Kashmir suicide attack will not go waste as there was not a Congress government at the Centre anymore.

He said Pakistan and Pakistaninspired terrorists carried out the cowardly attack in which 40 CRPF men were killed. “…their sacrifices will not go in vain because this time at the Centre, it is not a Congress government but your strong BJP government,” he told a gathering of BJP’S youth wing, the Bharati Janta Yuva Morcha, in Assam’s Lakhimpur.

Shah vowed to not let Assam turn into Kashmir. “This is our commitment. We will do NRC [national register of citizens] again and again and throw out each and every intruder from Assam,” Shah said.

Over 4 million people were excluded from a draft NRC in July in Assam as part of the campaign to identify and deport Bangladeshi immigrants from Assam.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah responded to Shah on Twitter and blamed the BJP for making a mess in Jammu and Kashmir. “Sub-text - we’ve made a complete mess of Kashmir in our 5 years in power. We will try not to make the same mess in Assam,’’ Abdullah tweeted.

The BJP was in power in Jammu and Kashmir until June 2018 when it withdrew support from Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government.

Shah insisted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government would not compromise with national security. “If anyone is thinking that because of a sudden cowardly attack, you will win the battle, you are mistaken. Whether it is northeast or Kashmir, we will uproot terrorism.”