Illegal migrants challenge to our survival and national integrity: VP

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday said illegal migrants, numbering 20 million, have made India’s national security and sovereignty vulnerable.
“When the sanctity of our border is breached by unchecked illegal migrants, it is not a question of law and order but a question of our survival and national integrity,” Dhankhar said.
He was addressing the convocation ceremony of the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) in Mumbai.
“These people make a huge demand on our national resources. They take work from our hands and make our national security and sovereignty vulnerable,” he said.
“Always beware of such challenges when demographic balances are manipulated, not by organic evolution but by sinister, orchestrated design,” Dhankhar told the students.
It is no longer a question of migration but a question of demographic invasion, he said. “Bharat has suffered it. As per official data, there are over 20 million illegal migrants in the country. Can we suffer them? We need people in this country who are committed to our civilisation,” he said.
“In contrast to the slow and long term demographic shifts, which are usual, natural and demographic changes also take place. They have to take place, but they are usually slow and long term,” he said.
“There are choreographed, well-structured, ill-designed alterations aimed at changing the makeup of certain geographies. These are the most worrying trends,” he said. While natural demographic shifts occur gradually, deliberate and orchestrated changes in the demographic composition of certain regions pose a significant concern, Dhankhar said.
“These calculated alterations in our demography are often driven by political or strategic motives that are certainly not wholesome for our nation. These disrupt our social and cultural equilibrium. Such menacing trends require vigilant monitoring and decisive action to safeguard integrity and sovereignty of Bharat,” he said. “The recent decision by the government, a game-changing decision, a milestone in governance, is to include caste-based enumeration in the upcoming decadal census,” he said. “This will be transformative. This will help us satisfy aspirations equitably to bring about equality and will be a decisive step towards social justice. This will also help us when data will be available to enrich our understanding of inequalities.
“Because if inequalities are there, they generate and breed inequities. That is not the essence of governance. The data that will emanate from caste-based census will guide us for targeted development,” he said.
Dhankhar said peace is quintessential and fundamental for survival of democracy. “Never forget, peace is secured from a position of strength,” he added. “Democracy can blossom and prosper only in peace that is earned through strength, effective security, economic resilience and internal harmony. History is proof of it. Invasions can be thwarted and peace secured only when we are ever ready for war,” he said.
“Bharat has sent a global message. No longer shall we tolerate terrorism. We will liquidate it and destroy the source of it,” Dhankhar said, alluding to the Indian air strikes on targets in Pakistan during Operation Sindoor earlier this month.
“Peace is not absence of conflict. It is presence of preparedness. Democracy is a delicate bloom in its fertile soil of security. Democracy cannot prosper if there is no security. The sunlight of economic opportunity and the steady reign of social harmony also require peace,” he said.
Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, was present at the convocation ceremony.