Centre’s demography panel seeks religion-wise data from states; Cong calls it ‘patently diabolical agenda’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Centre’s demography panel seeks religion-wise data from states; Cong calls it ‘patently diabolical agenda’")
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the committee of having a patently diabolical agenda Photograph: (ANI)
The questionnaire asks states whether new legislation is required to strengthen surveillance and take action to reverse abnormal religious demographic change. It has also sought information on operational detention centres and the deportation or repatriation of undocumented migrants.
The High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC), formally constituted on May 26, 2026, and headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, has sought 15 years of religion-wise data from states on areas including birth and vehicle registrations, school enrollment, property transactions, and unusual increases in Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration card registrations.
State governments are reportedly struggling to respond to the 35-point questionnaire because they do not ordinarily maintain such information on the basis of religion.
The committee has sought district-wise details of religious structures established over the past 15 years, data on religious conversions among Scheduled Tribe communities, and voter registrations involving people without previous-generation birth certificates or family records.
The panel has also sought information on operational detention centres and the deportation or repatriation of undocumented migrants. States have been asked to compile religion-wise data across the listed categories for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Buddhists.
The questionnaire also asks states to suggest whether new legislation is required to strengthen surveillance and take action to “reverse abnormal religious demographic change,” according to the report.
The HLCDC was constituted by the Union Home Ministry to study demographic changes attributed to illegal immigration and other “abnormal reasons” and suggest measures to address them.
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The committee has visited the Jammu region and plans to visit Maharashtra.
The committee was formed two decades after the Congress-led UPA government constituted the Sachar Committee in 2005 to examine the social, economic, and educational status of Muslims.
The BJP and several right-wing groups had criticised the Sachar Committee report as a tool for “minority appeasement” and “vote-bank politics.”
The Congress party slammed the questionnaire and accused the committee of calling it a “patently diabolical agenda.”
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the panel studying demographic changes of having a “patently diabolical agenda” and said its “pre-conceived biases” were evident, citing a report on the committee’s questionnaire to states.
Ramesh wrote on X, “This panel has a patently diabolical agenda and has clearly articulated preconceived biases. Its report has already been prepared, no doubt.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the “High-powered Demography Mission” on August 15, 2025. The Union Cabinet gave its approval to the proposal on September 11, 2025.
