The issue of changing religious demography due to illegal migration in India has resurfaced in India’s public discourse as the Union Home Minister Amit Shah raised this issue in a lecture on October 10 in New Delhi. Earlier, this issue had come up in recent times for a public debate in context of various laws framed by the Central government and the Election Commission of India’s exercise to revise the voter list in the state of Bihar.
A broader debate on this issue had been kicked off partially in the late 1970s and during 1980s when an agitation was launched in the state of Assam to counter the threats posed by massive illegal migration of Muslim Bangladeshis from across the border.
But the real nationwide debate about change in India’s religious demography took place after the 2001 census when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) flagged the issue. In an official resolution passed in 2004, the RSS laid the foundation of that debate which is resurfacing at the political level.
The 2004 RSS resolution titled ‘Demographic Threats” highlighted: “In six districts of Assam and three districts of Bengal, which are adjacent to Bangladesh, Hindus have already become a minority. Additionally, in four districts of Assam and seven districts of Bengal they are on the verge of becoming a minority.”
The RSS reasoned that this was happening because of infiltration from across Bangladesh borders. It emphasised that the IMDT Act in Assam, instead of preventing this infiltration, was acting as a catalyst for it.
“In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, all the districts on the border of Nepal show very high Muslim density ranging from 20 to 68 percent, thus creating a ‘corridor’ of high Muslim presence from Bangladesh to Pakistan, as was visualized by the architect of Bharat’s partition, Jinnah, along with Britishers. Eleven states have registered a decadal growth rate of more than 30% in Christian population, while nine states have registered a decadal growth rate of more than 30% in Muslim population,” said this resolution.
For RSS, this change in religious demography was a grave threat for national unity. “That demographic changes do lead to social and political changes, is a fact universally acknowledged. Bharat, which has gone through the tragic trauma of partition in 1947 mainly due to demographic imbalances in Hindu – Muslim proportion in certain parts of the country, does not need any outside example for this.The census 2001 has only highlighted the continuity of the process,” read the RSS resolution.
It recommended the government to rreformulate the National Population Policy keeping in view availability of resources in the country, future needs and the problem of demographic imbalance and apply the same uniformly to all. It also recommended that the government should totally curb the illegal infiltration from across the border, prepare a National Register of Citizens and prevent these infiltrators from acquiring citizenship rights and purchasing lands.
The RSS had called upon the society and its volunteers to take cognizance of the causes of these population changes and consider it their national duty to create public awareness and take all lawful steps to save the country from this demographic imbalance.
In 2005, the RSS passed another resolution on the declining Hindu population in India. It said that continuous decline in the proportion of Hindu population all over Bharat is an issue of grave concern. “From 1881 onwards every census showed decline in Hindu percentage, and 2001 census figures have further shown that Hindus have turned into a minority in some parts of Bharat and are on the verge of turning into a minority in some other parts. The disastrous consequences of the decline in percentage of Hindu population are revealed in many ways. The dangers posed due to this decline to democracy, secularism, pluralistic social order, respect for other religious faiths which are the highlights of Hindu ethos are well known. Separatist and terrorist activities have mushroomed in areas where the percentage of Hindu population has declined,” said the 2005 resolution.
From 2004 to 2014, the UPA government did little to curb illegal immigration despite the 2011 census further reiterating the rapid change in India’s religious demography.
In 2015, the RSS passed another resolution which highlighted the threat from infiltration across the borders. It said, “The rate of growth of Muslim population has been very higher than national average, in the border districts of border States of the country like Assam, West Bengal and Bihar, clearly indicating the unabated infiltration from Bangladesh. The Report of the Upamanyu Hazarika Commission appointed by Hon Supreme Court and several judicial pronouncements from time to time have also corroborated these facts. It is also a fact that the infiltrators are usurping the rights of citizens of these states and are becoming a heavy burden on the already scant resources apart from creating socio-cultural, political and economic tensions.”
The Modi government has however taken up the issue of curbing illegal infiltration in a comprehensive manner by adopting a multi-pronged approach to ensure effective surveillance and domination of land borders to check infiltration of illegal migrants. Physical infrastructure in the form of border fencing, floodlighting, construction of border roads and establishment of border outposts has been created. Vulnerable border outposts are regularly reviewed and strengthened by deploying additional manpower, special surveillance equipment and other force multipliers. A technological solution in the form of Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) has been implemented in some vulnerable border areas.
On the legislative front it has passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 and has strongly advocated for the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Conclusion
It appears that the debate over India’s changing religious demography — once confined to regional agitations like Assam’s anti-infiltration movement — has now returned to the national stage, framed within the broader context of national security and cultural identity. What the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had cautioned against two decades ago in its resolutions is today a grim reality and it isn’t only the government alone that can handle it. Indian society has to chip in too.
(The article was originally published in moneycontrol.com. Link:https://www.moneycontrol.