The Centre has constituted a high-level committee to examine demographic changes occurring across India because of “infiltration and other unnatural causes” and suggest measures to deal with it, Union home minister Amit Shah announced on Tuesday.

Shah said the issue had implications for national security, sovereignty and social stability.

The “High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes” will “scientifically assess the demographic changes occurring in various parts of the country due to illegal immigration and other abnormal reasons, analyse their causes, and recommend
appropriate policy, legislative and administrative measures”, the home ministry said in a statement.

The announcement came weeks after the Bengal polls in which polarisation around the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh was a focal point of the BJP’s campaign as the party claimed an “alarming demographic shift” in the state.

Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, the BJP and the RSS have been raising the bogey of Bangladeshi “ghuspaithiya” (infiltrators) in border regions, especially in eastern India, which they said were being used as a tool to artificially alter the demography of the country and undermine social stability. They argue that unchecked infiltration alters electoral, social and cultural balances.

In a post in Hindi on X, Shah said on Tuesday: “Illegal infiltration and other reasons leading to unnatural demographic change is a very big challenge for the present and future of any nation. To deal with this challenge, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had announced the ‘High-Level Committee on Demographic Change’ on August 15, 2025. I am delighted to inform you that the government has constituted this committee.”

The home minister said “demographic change is a serious problem linked not only to our sovereignty but also to national security, law and order, major changes in social structure, and the protection of tribal societies”.

“This committee will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the demographic changes occurring across India due to illegal immigration and other abnormal reasons. It will analyse the patterns of abnormal population changes at the level of religious and social communities and will present a well-planned and time-bound solution to address the issue,” Shah added.

The panel will be chaired by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, and will have as members former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shanker Mishra, former BPR&D chief Balaji Srivastava and economist Shamika Ravi. The joint secretary (foreigners-I) of the home ministry will serve as the member secretary.

In his Independence Day speech last year, Modi had flagged the issue of infiltrators, describing it as “unnatural demographic imbalance” in some parts of the country and announcing a high-powered mission to check what he called a “conspiracy” to alter India’s demography.

“Infiltrators and illegal migrants are snatching the livelihood of the youth of my country. These intruders are targeting the sisters and daughters of my country. This will not be tolerated. These infiltrators are misleading innocent tribal people and occupying their land. The country will not tolerate this,” he had said, asserting that demographic changes in the border areas posed a threat to the country’s security and created a crisis for the “unity, integrity and progress of the nation”.