The Centre has constituted a high-level committee to study demographic challenges linked to “illegal immigration and other unnatural causes”, Union home minister Amit Shah, announced on Tuesday on X.
Shah, who is scheduled to visit Bengal on May 15 to take stock of security measures alongside the Bangladesh frontier, stated 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.
“Infiltration and other reasons causing Unnatural Demographic Change pose a very significant challenge to the present and future of any nation,” he noted, adding, “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.”
The committee will be chaired by retired Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar.
According to the Union home minister, 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," he 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.
The government has directed all 23 districts to set up holding centres to detain suspected illegal immigrants, especially Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, for a maximum of 30 days until verification of their citizenship and the repatriation process is completed.
Assam, Rajasthan, and Delhi already has ‘holding centres’.