Udit Raj calls PM Modi a ‘liar’ over Assam infiltration claims, blames Centre for border failures

Congress leader Udit Raj has launched a strong counterattack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the PM accused the Congress of encouraging infiltration in Assam for political gains. Raj said responsibility lies with the BJP-led Centre, which has controlled border security for more than a decade.

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s remarks, Raj questioned how infiltration could continue under a government that has held power since 2014. He also alleged that the issue was being used selectively during elections, without real action on the ground.

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“If you compare the number of people sent abroad from 2004 to 2013 and from 2014 until now, during PM Manmohan Singh’s time, all things will become clear. They are the ones who bring in these infiltrators. If they don’t come, I think people from the Modi government bring them in,” Udit Raj told ANI.

He argued that border management falls directly under the Centre’s control and asked how infiltrators were able to enter and remain in the country. Raj also linked the issue to recent elections.

“Modi has been the Prime Minister for so long, and border security is under his control. How did infiltrators even get in, and how are they managing to stay here? Infiltrators were visible during the Jharkhand, Delhi and Bihar elections. The very reason for SIR was to remove these infiltrators, but nothing has been achieved,” he said.

Raj went further, launching a sharp personal attack on the Prime Minister.

“I am ashamed that our country has elected such a Prime Minister whose only job is to lie. He is such a liar,” he said.

What triggered the exchange: PM Modi’s Assam speech and Mumbai remarks

Raj’s comments came after Prime Minister Modi’s address in Assam’s Nagaon district, where he accused the Congress of weakening the state’s security for votes.

“The Congress party handed over Assam’s soil to infiltrators just to form governments and garner a few votes. The Congress party formed governments in Assam for decades, and during this time, infiltration kept increasing,” the Prime Minister said.

Modi also took a swipe at the Congress’s electoral decline, pointing to its shrinking presence in Maharashtra.

“In the very city of Mumbai, where the Congress was born, it has now become a fourth or fifth-ranked party. In Maharashtra, which the Congress ruled for years, the party has completely shrunk. The Congress has lost the trust of the country because it has no agenda for development,” he said.

Row spills into Maharashtra politics

The political exchange widened as Raj responded to Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut’s allegations that corporators were being confined in a Mumbai hotel amid uncertainty over the mayoral decision.

Targeting Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Raj accused him of political betrayal.

“Shinde has stabbed Uddhav Thackeray, and Shinde knows that the BJP does the same too. So both are backstabbers. One backstabber is alert to the other backstabber. That’s why he is doing this so that his councillors cannot be poached. He is just trying to save his bargaining power,” Raj said.

Raut had earlier demanded the “release” of corporators, claiming they were being kept at the Taj Hotel to prevent defections.

“They have kept their corporators confined. They broke away the MLAs, so now they have to keep the corporators confined as well. They had taken the MLAs to Surat. Eknath Shinde himself is the Deputy Chief Minister, yet he is afraid that his corporators will run away, what a ridiculous situation this is,” Raut said.

Raut also claimed that the Shinde-led Shiv Sena had become an “appendage” of the BJP.