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Owaisi accuses Centre’s ‘Demography Commission’ of targeting Muslims over religion-wise data

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has accused the Union government’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC) of seeking religion-wise data from states to target Muslims, rather than to frame better policies

Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has accused the Union government’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC) of seeking religion-wise data from states to target Muslims, rather than to frame better policies.

Reacting to media reports on the committee’s data requests, the Hyderabad MP said the government had earlier refused demands for data on the educational, social and economic conditions of Muslims, but was now collecting information on vehicle purchases, land ownership and other transactions by religion.

Owaisi, posting on X, claimed the committee’s real aim was to “twist and distort” data so that Muslims could be targeted and their remaining rights eroded. He referred to the panel as Home Minister Amit Shah’s “Demography Commission”.

According to reports, the HLCDC has asked states for religion-wise data over the past 15 years on births, vehicle registrations, school enrolment and property transactions, along with district-wise details on religious structures and “unusual” increases in Aadhaar, voter ID and ration card registrations. The committee has also reportedly sought intelligence assessments and commission reports on religious conversions among Scheduled Tribe communities and details of operational detention centres.

The Ministry of Home Affairs constituted the HLCDC on May 26, appointing retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar to head it. The panel’s mandate is to study demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other “abnormal” reasons, and to suggest measures to address them.

In a media interaction on September 27, Owaisi said the BJP government had set up a commission led by a retired top judge to visit areas where demographic changes have been recorded. He said the panel would examine the final electoral rolls after Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and that illegal migrants could be apprehended on that basis.

Owaisi also warned that a National Register of Citizens (NRC) could be implemented using SIR-based electoral rolls, citing Home Minister Amit Shah’s past statements on NRC

(Inputs from IANS)

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