NEW DELHI: Union Home minister Amit Shah addressed the Narendra Mohan Memorial Lecture on “Infiltration, Demographic Change, and Democracy” and spoke at the Jagran Sahitya Srijan Award Ceremony in New Delhi today. Various dignitaries were present.
Addressing the gathering, Amit Shah stated that infiltration, demographic transformation, and democracy are intricately connected and of vital national significance.
He underlined the fact that all Indians, particularly the youth, need to know about these matters in order to protect the nation’s culture, languages, and sovereignty.
Referring to census statistics between 1951 and 2011, he indicated a consistent decrease in the percentage of Hindus—from 84 per cent to 79 per cent—as the Muslim population rose from 9.8 per cent to 14.2 per cent.
Shah claimed that this change was not because of fertility but primarily owing to illegal migration from bordering nations.
He stated that in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Hindu minority had plummeted in numbers—from 13 per per cent to 1.73 per per cent in Pakistan and from 22 per cent to 7.9 per cent in Bangladesh—because of persecution of religion, and many had taken refuge in India.
He said that India, with its constitutional principles, still ensures freedom of religion, while its neighbours proclaimed themselves Islamic states and were unable to keep minorities safe.
Amit Shah emphasised that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed to rectify historical injustice and grant citizenship to persecuted minorities—Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians—from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
He repeated that the CAA does not take away the citizenship of anyone but just gives it to those who were denied justice for centuries.
The Home minister said that refugees seeking shelter to protect their faith cannot be equated with infiltrators who enter India illegally for economic or other reasons.
He explained that while refugees deserve compassion and citizenship, infiltration
threatens national security, political stability, and law and order.
Referring to demographic changes in border areas, Shah mentioned Assam and West Bengal, where Muslim growth rates were 30–70 per cent in some districts—rates he described as resultant from mass-scale illegal infiltration.
He emphasised that stopping infiltration needs to be coordinated between the Centre and state governments and further stated that political interests should not take precedence over national security.
Amit Shah explained that the government adheres to the policy of Detect, Delete, and Deport to detect infiltrators, delete their names from voter lists, and deport them.