Guwahati, Aug. 9 -- Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma referred to a section of Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, contending that the Congress leader extended "indirect support" for the exercise through his comments. Sarma on Friday asserted that the SIR is essential for the northeastern State to remove the names of "Bangladeshis".
"Rahul Gandhi has himself given a certificate that SIR should be conducted. There should be a unique name along with an Aadhaar number. He (Gandhi) took some North Indian names. In Assam, we have names of Bangladeshis in our voter rolls. The same names are in Barpeta, Guwahati, Kerala and Delhi. It is a disease. That is why SIR is being done in Bihar," Sarma tol...