NDTV Assam Power Play: Migration, Identity And Shifting Demographic Landscape

A debate on migration and identity in Assam unfolded during the NDTV Assam Power Play panel featuring BJP's Ashok Singhal, Congress's Pradyut Bordoloi and AIUDF's Hafiz Rafiqul Islam. The conversations mirrored decades of political anxiety around demography in the state.

The recurring question was on whether Assam's Muslim population rose a lot between 1951 and 2011, with higher concentrations in several districts.

Singhal said it can be seen as a kind of civilisational threat. "This demographic change has scared us," he said. "How will our heritage and the future of our children be safe?" He argued that illegal migration from Bangladesh had altered district-level balances, particularly in Dhubri and adjoining areas. On conflating Muslims with "infiltrators", he said the concern was strictly about "those who have come from Bangladesh".

AIUDF's Hafiz Rafiqul Islam countered sharply, calling the BJP's numbers selective and fear-driven. He pointed out that pre-Independence undivided Assam had a higher Muslim presence in districts like Ghiladhari and Gauripur, long before Partition.

"How can you say the census is wrong?" he said, noting that Assam's current fertility rate is 1.9 - lower than several northern states. "The fear being shown is political. Assam's Muslims are Indian-origin citizens."

Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi said Assam's demographic shifts were historical and layered, shaped by British-era movement for tea and jute plantations, the pre-1950s land policies, and later, anxieties during and after the Bangladesh war.

"Assam has always been a melting pot," he said, adding that the Assam Accord significantly stemmed post-1971 inflows.

On the Uniform Civil Code, Islam rejected the BJP's proposal as contradictory and selectively applied. Bordoloi endorsed the principle of uniformity but warned against using it as a political weapon. "Equal rights, without discrimination, that is the core," he said.