By Pankaj Shah

Lucknow: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday said the demographic shift in Sambhal as mentioned by the judicial commission in its report is not restricted to just one UP district but is instead a pan-India issue that needs a stringent law to check it. The commission in its report on 2024 Sambhal violence has highlighted the sharp decline in Hindu population from 45% at the time of independence to 15% at present in the western UP district.

“It’s a fact that this (exodus of Hindus) has happened in many, many districts in the country. We know when the Muslim population increases significantly, an atmosphere is created which compels the Hindus in their neighbourhood to abandon their homes and shift. And this causes a serious problem that reflects upon Hindu-Muslim relations,” VHP international president Alok Kumar told TOI. Kumar said the exodus of Hindus and subsequent demographic changes have been largely observed in the bordering districts of Assam and West Bengal. He said the situation is equally threatening in the Mewat region, a historical and cultural region that covers parts of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

VHP’s narrative, analysts said, resembles its earlier campaigns around “illegal infiltration” and “changing demography” in Assam and West Bengal. Mewat, too, has long been projected by Hindu groups as a site of religious demographic anxiety because of its large Muslim majority population.

Experts said such demographic changes were not only linked to migration, fertility patterns, economic opportunities and communal tensions, but were also politically sensitive while touching upon identity and security issues.

Analysts said that by linking demographic changes with security and national defence, the VHP seeks to set the stage for communal consolidation and political mobilisation. “Nevertheless, it risks escalating communal polarisation unless balanced by nuanced policy discussion,” an expert said.In 2016, too, VHP had released a list of 38 villages in eight districts of west UP where it claimed the Hindu population declined drastically from around 40% to 10%. This was after BJP’s Kairana MP, Hukum Singh, had released a list of 346 Hindu families which had allegedly migrated from the town. Singh had also released a list of 63 families who migrated from the nearby village of Kandhla. Singh’s claims were contested by the opposition parties, which accused him of “doing politics”. The BJP had also sent a team led by senior party legislator Suresh Khanna to Kairana and asked it to submit report to the then UP BJP chief Keshav Maurya.

In wake of 2027 UP elections and national politics, highlighting Hindu “exodus” and the demographic changes could become a strong campaign theme for the Hindutva groups. The issue has attained overtones with CM Yogi Adityanath accusing the previous SP and Congress govts of targeting Hindus and subjecting them to gross atrocities.

This story was originally published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com.