Pinarayi Vijayan criticises demographic panel’s data request

Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, has criticised a questionnaire issued by the Union government’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes. In a social media post on Thursday, Vijayan described the request for religion-wise information from States as a dangerous extension of what he called the Sangh Parivar’s divisive agenda. He urged the Kerala government not to yield to pressure from the Centre.

The committee has asked States to provide religion-wise details including birth registrations, school enrolment and property transactions. The source material does not identify a response from the committee or the Union government to Vijayan’s allegations. Vijayan also expressed concern that the United Democratic Front government had not issued a statement opposing the questionnaire.

He alleged that the panel’s questions reflected a planned effort to advance the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s communal interests. He further alleged that the committee had been created to produce political gains by developing a narrative about what he called “unnatural demographic changes” in border States and metropolitan cities. According to Vijayan, the exercise could divide people, marginalise minorities and damage the secular character of the country.

He called on people with secular views to resist what he described as such attempts. His comments focused on both the type of data requested and the political implications he attributes to the questionnaire. The information supplied does not include details about the committee’s mandate beyond its name, the deadline for States to respond or the purpose given by the panel for collecting the data.

The controversy therefore centres on Vijayan’s interpretation of the questionnaire and his appeal to the Kerala government to oppose it. No independent assessment of the panel’s work is provided in the source material.