Modi government's demographic committee opens portal, critics say it furthers Hindutva agenda

The High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes has launched an online portal for public input on "unnatural demographic changes," a step viewed by critics as advancing the Hindutva-driven majoritarian vision.

The Ministry of Home Affairs' High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes, formed by the Modi administration, has opened a public portal for submissions on "unnatural demographic changes" dating from 2011 onward. Chaired by Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, the five-member panel includes the Registrar General, a former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, a retired IPS officer with R&AW experience, a prime-ministerial economic adviser and a senior MHA bureaucrat, none of whom are demographers.

The piece ties the committee to the Hindutva agenda, citing RSS resolutions since 2015 warning of a Muslim "demographic imbalance" and calls for population-control laws. It highlights recent RSS meetings where leaders claimed certain communities were growing rapidly, and the committee's terms of reference that call for systems to identify, detain and deport illegal immigrants, especially in border districts. The article argues the lack of empirical evidence on illegal immigration, particularly from Bangladesh, undermines the committee's premise and risks formalising a framework for minority surveillance and displacement, targeting Bengali Muslims in Assam and West Bengal. Critics view the portal as a way to enlist ordinary citizens in monitoring minorities, echoing US ICE tip-lines, and fear it will cement a policy apparatus for disenfranchising Muslims under the guise of demographic management.