NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Friday said infiltration was the main reason for disparity in the rates of growth of numbers of different religious communities, and said that the changes in demography were a threat to country’s culture and democratic ethos while vowing that govt would pursue a “detect, delete and deport” strategy against infiltrators.“In the 1951 census, Hindus constituted 84%, while Muslims constituted 9.8%. In 1971, Hindus constituted 82% and the Muslim population was 11%, while in 1991, Hindus constituted 81% and the Muslim community accounted for 12.12%, while in 1991, we accounted for 89%, and Muslims accounted for 14.2%. I’m talking about the populations of only two religions because I want to talk about infiltration,” Shah saidDelivering the Narendra Mohan Smriti Lecture at Sahitya Shrishti Samman ceremony, the home minister said, “The Muslim population has increased by 24.6 per cent, whereas the Hindu population has decreased by 4.5 per cent. I am telling you this because it hasn’t happened because of the fertility rate. It has happened because of infiltration.”“Hindu population decreased in Pakistan and Bangladesh as many of them fled and took refuge in India. And the Muslim population that increased in India wasn’t due to fertility, it was because many from the community infiltrated into the country,” the home minister said.He asked people to recognise the consequences of infiltration to effect demographic shifts for democracy.“I want to say without hesitation that until every Indian understands these three issues, we cannot ensure safety for our country, it’s culture, languages, and our independence. These three topics are interconnected,” he stated and cited censuses from 1951, 1971, 1991, and 2011 to highlight the changing demography.Shah linked the sharp drop in Jharkhand’s tribal population to similar incursions, announcing that the Modi govt’s high-powered Demographic Mission would examine illegal migration’s effects on religious and social fabric, population trends, and border security. He blamed “vote-bank” politics for infiltration, and said that it was ironic while Gujarat and Rajasthan have remained secure despite being border states, West Bengal has emerged as an epicentre of the serious threat. “Some political parties do not see a threat to the nation in infiltrators; they only see a vote bank,” he remarked, decrying Congress‘s role in the religious partition of India as a profound error.Shah defended the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, and Buddhist refugees, as fulfilling a national pledge redeemed by Prime Minister Modi. “Opposition parties spread lies about the CAA; by bringing it, Modi Ji performed atonement for decades of governance errors,” he asserted. He emphasised that minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh since independence deserve sanctuary in India. Endorsing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Shah argued that embedding infiltrators into voters’ lists corrupts constitutional integrity. He reiterated that Muslim population growth stems from “infiltration from Pakistan and Bangladesh and not because of fertility.”Infiltrators’ inclusion in voter lists, he warned, taints the political process. “When you are protecting infiltrators, you are polluting the spirit of the Constitution,” Shah said, adding, “We will follow the detect, delete and deport process for infiltrators.” He lambasted Congress: “Outsiders will not decide who gets to vote whom in India. India’s democracy will be run by Indians-not dictated by outsiders or Congress-backed lobbies.““The opposition is against the SIR exercise because their vote banks are getting cut…It is EC’s constitutional responsibility to clean the voters’ list. You can go to court if you have any issues,” he said.
