The Ministry of Home Affairs’ resolution on the High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC), issued on May 26, 2026, to scientifically study abnormal population shifts and illegal immigration across India is highly disturbing. It serves the Hindutva agenda and poses a threat to the country.
According to reports, the Union government is seeking religion-wise data for the past 15 years on births, vehicle registrations, school enrolments, and property transactions, along with district-wise details of religious structures and unusual increases in Aadhaar and voter ID registrations.
Such details are totally unwarranted, as they smack of the CAA-NRC mechanism and represent yet another assault on the issue of citizenship. The moot point is that this exercise serves no legitimate purpose and is an indirect attempt to segregate people and further marginalize Indian Muslims. Such an attempt goes against the basic structure of the Constitution of India.
The shocking aspect of this development is that the Union Government has announced that a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge will frame a questionnaire seeking the above information and send it to the state governments, which will, in turn, forward it to district authorities.
The state governments will face the daunting task of collecting the details sought by the demographic panel because they do not maintain records of this nature based on religion.
What is warranted is for the state governments to categorically inform the demographic panel that it is impossible for them to respond to queries aimed at maintaining records based on religion, which would effectively segregate people from one another.
The central issue is not the difficulty of collecting the data; instead, the concern is whether such information is necessary within the secular framework of India.
Another intriguing part of the HLCDC questionnaire is its request for intelligence assessments and commission reports on religious conversions within Scheduled Tribe communities. This appears totally unrelated to the government’s stated ideas concerning community development.
The Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 (CAA), which established a religion-based pathway to citizenship, directly contravened the Constitution of India. Despite widespread public resistance, the government suppressed dissent through coercion and proceeded with its implementation.
A similar design seems to be in the offing, with the demographic questionnaire being prepared for circulation in a manner that could target Indian Muslims.
The demographic panel’s questionnaire is likely to ignite the latent anger among the Shaheen Bagh protesters. This is because such a questionnaire could serve to advance an agenda of the BJP aimed at transforming the secular nature of the Indian state into a theocratic state.
Since the BJP cannot change the Preamble of the Constitution, it is through the demographic panel’s questionnaire that the current dispensation appears to want to modify the basic structure of the Constitution.
By classifying citizens according to religious affiliation, the demographic panel could effectively erode India’s secular character, as enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.
The Constitution of India establishes the framework of government, and governments can function only in accordance with the vision and provisions of the Constitution.
If that is the case, citizens have to decide whether they want to uphold the provisions of the Constitution of India or implement what they perceive as the Hindutva agenda of the BJP.
It is obvious that, in the author’s view, the intention of the BJP government is to create fear among the Muslim community, disturb peace in the nation, and force people to align themselves with those in power to protect themselves.
Such a move, if implemented, would be in total disregard of the vision and provisions of the Constitution. It would not align with the mandate of the people, specifically with its Preamble and the Directive Principles of State Policy.
The questionnaire issued by the HLCDC violates the vision of the Constitution. It appears to be an extension of the CAA and NRC, which created havoc in the country. This activity of the government must be nipped in the bud.
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*Journalist based in Chennai
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