India must pledge to expel each infiltrator and safeguard the nation’s borders and demography, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday at the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations held at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat marking the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
“Due to Congress party’s weak policies, a part of Kashmir fell into Pakistan’s illegal occupation,” Modi said. “We must now pledge to expel each infiltrator and safeguard the nation’s borders and demography.”
Modi’s comments come weeks after he warned of a “demographic change” caused by “infiltrators” while addressing the 100th anniversary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) earlier in October.
Then, he had said India’s unity in diversity was “under threat from infiltrators causing a demographic shift,” calling it a “risk to social harmony and internal security.”
“If this strength is broken, India will weaken,” he had said during that address, linking the issue to his Independence Day speech, in which he announced a “Demographic Mission” aimed at protecting Indian citizens from infiltrators “snatching the livelihood of youth and targeting our sisters and daughters”.
Earlier this month, Union home minister Amit Shah, speaking at the Narendra Mohan Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, cited census data from 1951 to 2011 to argue that infiltration, not fertility, had driven demographic changes.
Shah said infiltration from neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh had significantly altered border demographics, but stressed that India’s constitutional framework ensured religious freedom and refuge to persecuted minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians.
