Home Minister Amit Shah said infiltration poses threat to national security, social balance and tribal communities; committee to examine 'abnormal population shifts' across religious and social groups.
“Infiltration and other reasons causing Unnatural Demographic Change pose a very significant challenge to the present and future of any nation,” he noted.
“Demographic Change is a serious issue linked not only to our sovereignty but also to national security, law and order, profound changes in social structure, and the preservation of tribal society.”
Bangladeshi nationals near the Hakimpur check post in North 24-Parganas on Tuesday morning (Snap - The Telegraph)
The Centre has constituted a high-level committee to study demographic challenges linked to “illegal immigration and other unnatural causes”.
The committee will be chaired by retired Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar.
Meanwhile, reports say hundreds of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals — mostly Muslims — gathered near the Hakimpur check post along the India-Bangladesh border on Tuesday, desperate to cross back into Bangladesh before the new BJP government in Bengal intensifies its crackdown on illegal immigration.
The rush to the border, 75km from Calcutta in North 24-Parganas' Basirhat subdivision, came after the Bengal government announced plans to establish “holding centres” in every district to detain undocumented foreign nationals — a visible early signal that the BJP intends to aggressively pursue its long-promised “3D policy” of Detect, Delete and Deport.
Union Home Minister Shah is scheduled to visit West Bengal on May 15 to take stock of security measures alongside the Bangladesh frontier.
The Minister's statement that infiltration could have far-reaching consequences for national security, social balance, law and order, and the protection of tribal communities, apart from impacting the country’s sovereignty is seen as a significant one.
The panel would also include the census commissioner along with former IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, former IPS officer Shri Balaji Srivastava, and Dr. Shamika Ravi.
The joint secretary (foreigners-I) in the ministry of home affairs will serve as the member secretary within the committee. Shah said that infiltration and other factors causing “unnatural demographic change” pose a serious challenge to the country’s present and future.
The committee has been tasked to conduct a comprehensive study of demographic changes across various parts of the nation due to illegal immigration and “unnatural causes”.
The committee has been tasked with analysing and deciphering “patterns of abnormal population shifts at the levels of religious and social communities” and presenting the Centre with a planned and “timely solution” in handling the ‘ghuspaithiyes.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced such a committee would be formed during his Independence Day address last year.
“Today I want to alert the country about a concern, a challenge.
Under a well-thought out conspiracy, the demography of the country is being changed. Seeds of a new crisis are being sown. These 'ghuspaithiye' (infiltrators) are snatching the livelihood of the youth of my country, these 'ghuspaithiye' are targeting the sisters and daughters of my country, this will not be tolerated," Modi had said, addressing the nation.
This comes amid several BJP-ruled states already setting up ‘holding centres’, with Bengal emerging as the latest to join the list. Two holding centres have been set up in Malda(English Bazaar) and Murshidabad (Lalgola). Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said that his government would follow the policy of ‘detect, delete and deport’ while handling illegal aliens.
In the Malda holding centre, nine suspected Bangladeshi citizens have been housed, among whom three are women, and six are minors.
Since late Monday night, men, women and children arrived at the Hakimpur border point with bags, blankets and trolleys, hoping the Border Security Force (BSF) would push them back across before arrests began.
“The government has changed in Bengal,” said one of them who had been living in Durganagar with his family for around five years without valid documents. “Before facing harassment or detention, we decided to return to Bangladesh and begin a fresh struggle for survival.”
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