Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the “ghuspaithiya” argument was invoked to divert attention from the real issue of people being stripped of their right to vote. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Congress on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) hit back with three questions to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his criticism of the Opposition's 'vote chori' protests, asking how many "ghuspaithiye" (infiltrators) have been detected, deleted and deported following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the "ghuspaithiya" argument was invoked to divert attention from the real issue of people being stripped of their right to vote.
"The reality is that the architects of the 'Shah Instigated Removal' (SIR) exercise are repeatedly trying to divert attention from the real issue by invoking the infiltrator argument. Whereas the truth is that the desperate duo of PM-HM has stripped nearly 14 crore Indians of their constitutional right to vote," the post in Hindi said.
He further posed three questions to Mr. Shah
"Here are three very simple and straightforward questions to the Union Home Minister, who has been defending SIR: 1. How many ghuspaithiye were detected? 2. How many ghuspaithiye were deleted? 3. How many ghuspaithiye were deported?" Mr. Ramesh asked.
The Congress leader said 100 crore Indians have been put through the SIR process, and they deserved to know the results.
"Is he suggesting that these 14 crore Indians are ghuspaithiye? Has there been a massive increase in the number of infiltrators in the country under his oversight as Home Minister?" Mr. Ramesh asked.
In his first remarks on the ongoing protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR exercise, Mr. Shah on Tuesday (October 13, 2026) asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition to be ready for a "crushing defeat" again in 2029, as people are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and claimed that the country could see through the Leader of the Opposition's "plan" to get infiltrators registered as voters.
In a hard-hitting statement, Mr. Shah said that while the SIR started in 2024, the Congress has been losing continuously ever since Mr. Gandhi took over the party leadership.
Criticising Mr. Gandhi, he said the people of India knew the Leader of the Opposition's plans of "getting infiltrators registered as voters."
Published - October 14, 2026 01:17 pm IST