Union Home Minister Amit Shah set a firm timeline Saturday to eradicate Naxalism from India by March 2026. He also promised to remove all illegal immigrants from the country’s electoral rolls and expel them within the next five years.

Shah delivered the remarks in Assam, the first northeastern state to host the 87th Central Reserve Police Force Day Parade. Security forces held the event under tight measures in Guwahati. Shah praised the CRPF for its key role in stabilizing Jammu and Kashmir. He highlighted the force’s success in breaking Maoist networks across central and eastern India.

“The CRPF has been the backbone of our fight against left-wing extremism,” Shah said at the parade grounds. Troops marched in formation as he reviewed the event. This marked a milestone for the northeast, long a hotspot for insurgencies.

Later, Shah laid the foundation stone for a new campus of the Assam Police’s 10th Battalion in Sonitpur district. Officials described the 93-acre site as land reclaimed from encroachers. The project will house training facilities and barracks for 1,200 personnel, according to state police sources.

Shah turned his fire on the opposition Congress party. He accused its leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, of treating illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as a vote bank. “Congress opened the doors to infiltration for votes,” Shah charged. He pointed to Assam’s history of demographic changes fueled by cross-border migration during Congress rule.

The minister reiterated the government’s zero-tolerance stance on border security. Assam shares a 262-kilometer frontier with Bangladesh, a key infiltration route. Officials reported detecting over 1,200 illegal entrants in the state last year alone. Shah linked the drive against Naxalism to broader internal security goals, including counter-terrorism and cyber threats.

Naxalism, a Maoist insurgency, has claimed more than 12,000 lives since 2000, according to government data. Core affected districts have shrunk from 125 in 2010 to 41 today. Forces eliminated 197 rebels in 2023, the highest in a decade. Shah’s 2026 deadline matches Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier pledge to end the menace.

On infiltration, the home ministry updated the National Register of Citizens in Assam in 2019, excluding 1.9 million people. Shah vowed to replicate such efforts nationwide. “No illegal immigrant will remain on voter lists by 2026,” he stated. The promise aligns with the Citizenship Amendment Act, which fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from neighboring countries.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accompanied Shah throughout the visit. Sarma credited central leadership for enabling land recovery and security gains. Local leaders from the BJP hailed the pledges as a roadmap for a ‘Naxal- and infiltration-free’ India.

Opposition voices pushed back. Congress spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi called Shah’s accusations “baseless rhetoric.” He urged focus on development over division. Rights groups expressed concerns over the pace of deportations, citing humanitarian issues for stateless families.

Shah’s Assam trip highlights the BJP’s strategy ahead of state elections. The party governs Assam and eyes expansion in the northeast. His vows tap into voter anxieties over security and identity in border regions.