PM Modi's Speech Signals Clear Counteroffensive In Demographic War
Invisible to incurious eyes, the Red Fort has an Overton window. For nearly seven decades since Independence, it shifted with each Prime Minister's speech on August 15, albeit slowly. It pointed to the direction the nation was taking.
With the arrival of Narendra Modi in 2014, the Overton window has started shifting decisively, sometimes even dramatically. The unspeakable has been spoken from the Red Fort ramparts in the last 11 years.
The need for toilets.
Sanitary pads.
And now, about demographic change.
India's biggest danger was its best-kept secret. It used to be whitewashed or spoken about privately in hushed tones by its leaders, because they believed Muslims might get upset.
PM Modi on Independence Day has not just mentioned the unmentionable, but declared a full-frontal counteroffensive against the demographic war being waged against India for a thousand years. He promised to go after 'systematically planned demographic takeover" and 'deliberate infiltration".
He announced a 'high-powered Demography Mission", the contours of which are not yet known.
There were signs that a strong and determined pushback against demographic change was on its way. Home minister Amit Shah made it amply clear in his speeches. The special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar electoral rolls, in which 65 lakh dead, fake, or nonexistent voters have been deleted, followed.
CMs of opposition-ruled states like Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin have reacted to this with alarm, because Muslims, including illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, form their loyal vote bank.
Meanwhile, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma started a massive evacuation drive of infiltrator-occupied land in his state.
Uttarakhand has brought a strict anti-conversion bill.
The Yogi Adityanath government is busting module after module of conversion and love-jihad racket in UP.
The Gujarat government was at the forefront of detecting, detaining, and deporting illegals.
Maharashtra and Delhi have followed.
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha administrations have been alert about missionary activity and deceitful conversions.
The Andhra Pradesh government has been freeing Hindu temples from non-Hindu control of management, a scourge that spread like termite during Jagan Reddy's rule.
Even in Kashmir, Punjab, and Rajasthan, many Pakistani families living illegally for decades with all government facilities have been identified and rounded up.
And now, PM Narendra Modi's Red Fort speech puts all these actions in context. He has made his intention clear. The demographic war on India will no longer go unanswered. There will be a cogent, planned response.
Interestingly, right after the PM's speech, RSS ground teams have gone into a huddle on how to take the mission forward. Blueprints are being drawn up locally and nationally.
There is little doubt that one of the main motifs of Modi's third term will be the pushback against demographic change. The next elections—maybe up to 2029 and beyond—will be fought on demography, the biggest marker of Bharat's destiny.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
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First Published:
August 15, 2025, 23:41 IST
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