New Delhi: A day after opposition members of the INDIA bloc and student activists came together in a massive protest march in Delhi, stepping up their demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and a rollback of the special intensive revision (SIR), Union home minister on Tuesday (October 13) targeted Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, saying the people of India will not fall for his “action plan to protect infiltrators”.Shah was addressing the media regarding the results of the local body elections and by-elections, and made his first remarks on the ongoing protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and for scrapping of the SIR.Exuding confidence on the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and defending the SIR process, Shah said, “I want to tell Rahul Gandhi ji that your action plan to protect infiltrators under the pretext of SIR, the people of the country have understood it very well, and now the people of India are not going to fall for your deception. I also want to tell Rahul ji and his colleagues that for the resounding defeat in 2029, make up your mind once again. In the 2029 general elections, the NDA is going to come to power with a resounding majority, and the Congress, once again, for the fourth consecutive time.”VIDEO | Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah) says, “I want to tell Rahul Gandhi ji that your action plan to protect infiltrators under the pretext of SIR, the people of the country have understood it very well, and now the people of India are not going to fall for your deception. I also want to tell Rahul ji and his colleagues that for the resounding defeat in 2029, make up your mind once again. In the 2029 general elections, the NDA is going to come to power with a resounding majority, and the Congress, once again, for the fourth consecutive time.”(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/bIyFWTfmBd)— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 13, 2026The home minister’s remarks come amid a heavily criticised crackdown by the Delhi Police, RAF and other central forces – all of whom operate directly on the home ministry’s orders – over the weekend of October 10-11 on protesting individuals in Delhi, including politicians, activists, students, journalists and others, many of whom were brutally detained.While the police brutalities continued on Monday (October 12), the opposition’s march to Supreme Court was rather successful; it drew several thousands and resulted in a show of opposition strength, cadre mobilisation and spontaneous public participation.Also read: Top Leaders Together, INDIA Bloc’s March to Supreme Court Was a Show of UnityShah further spoke of the BJP’s recent electoral victories, in Tripura, West Bengal, Gujarat and other states, saying the results reflect the support of the people.“In states like Bengal, Tripura, and Gujarat, Shah said that the Congress party has faced defeat for three, four, or even five decades… Just recently, by-elections were held in three places in the country – West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry – where the Congress did not win a single seat. Rahul Gandhi ji should engage in self-reflection by learning from the election results. Instead of questioning the election process with every defeat, the Congress should reflect on its acceptability among the people,” he said.Shah also came down sharply on the Congress’ ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event, which is being spearheaded by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi across several states. He also made a mention of Monday’s INDIA bloc-led march, that had Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Left student leaders including Neha Bora in the forefront.“You cannot win the trust of the nation’s people through fabricated media events and ‘Jhooth Ki Goonj‘. You cannot become the voice of the nation merely by mobilising the cadres of fourteen parties to gather a crowd of eight thousand within a span of one and a half kilometres. I urge the Congress party to realise that the voice of the nation also resides in the rural fields and farms, in the villages, in remote hills and forests, and along the riverbanks – areas where you have no reach.“There are many states in the country – such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu – where the people have rejected and defeated the Congress party for decades. Even today, the negative politics the Congress is pursuing will not benefit them. They need to understand the public and connect with the people,” Shah said.Also read: As a Rogue State Is Given Free Rein, Courts Need Not Protect the Rule of LawThe Wire has reported earlier that the Union home ministry did not only order the massive security deployment but it also ordered the suspension of mobile internet services within a 500-metre radius at the makeshift ‘detention centres’ it had set up for the October 10 protests. The internet shutdowns at these detention centres were in addition to the notified 24-hour-long internet shutdown in a four-kilometre radius around Jantar Mantar, where the protest was to have been.Protesters arrived in Delhi in large numbers from neighbouring states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, as well as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and others, to join the march. Many of them, who were to arrive sooner, even had their trains cancelled.Earlier today, the Free Speech Collective approached the Supreme Court with a plea asking Delhi Police and its arms to be held in contempt of its October 11 order to allow journalists to cover the ongoing protests against election chief Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) unhindered. The respondents in the case are the Union home ministry, the Delhi government and the police commissioner of Delhi.A day ago, the home ministry de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site. It had constituted a committee to examine “alternative proper venues for citizen’s right for organizing protest/demonstrations”.