Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday claimed that Pakistan wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remain in power because it wants riots in India. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had on Tuesday said that there would be a better chance of talks with India if the Bharatiya Janata Party wins the Lok Sabha elections.

Kejriwal invoked the remark while responding to BJP President Amit Shah’s promise at an election rally to implement the National Register of Citizens across the country to remove infiltrators. Kejriwal tweeted, “Pakistan and Imran Khan also want riots in India. That is why Pakistan is openly helping Modi to become the prime minister again. What Pakistan could not achieve in 70 years, their friend Modiji has managed to pull off in five years: damaging India’s brotherhood.”

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The National Register of Citizens in Assam is a document meant to contain names of all “genuine citizens” of the state. It has been an extremely controversial matter, with many saying they have been unfairly left out of the citizenship lists, while the BJP has touted the move as strong action against “infiltrators”.

Earlier on Thursday, Shah said at a rally that “every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddhist and Hindu refugees” will be removed.

In his interview with journalists on Tuesday, Khan had said that the Congress, if it comes to power, might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over Kashmir due to fears of a backlash from the right-wing. Opposition parties had criticised Modi after Khan’s comments.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed that Khan’s comment was “taken out of context”, Dawn reported. Qureshi told the Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs that the Indian media has sensationalised the comment and that Khan’s reservations about Modi “are on the record”.