CPI(M) urges TVK government to boycott Centre's 'demographic changes' panel, calls survey anti-minority

CHENNAI: The CPI(M) has urged the Tamil Nadu government to boycott the High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, calling its 35-point questionnaire proof of the "anti-minority agenda" of the RSS and the BJP. In a statement on Friday, CPI(M) state secretary P. Shanmugam strongly condemned the constitution of the panel, alleging that setting up an "extra-legal committee" to gather demographic data while the official Census remains pending exposes the BJP's "malicious intent." The party accused the committee of acting with purely political motives — seeking religion-wise data from states on enrolment in faith-based schools, land ownership transfers, and religious conversions among tribal populations. In particular, Shanmugam flagged two red lines: the committee's collection of religious details of voters deleted from electoral rolls, and the fact that the panel does not include "even a single demographer" — which, he said, "clearly reveals the BJP's underlying motives." "To safeguard state autonomy, the Tamil Nadu government must reject the committee's questionnaire, openly oppose its motives, and refuse to cooperate by denying any data to the panel," Shanmugam said. The demand puts Chief Minister Vijay's TVK government — which the Left supports from outside — in a bind. Compliance with the Centre's questionnaire would mean handing over religion-wise data the Left calls communally loaded; refusal would mean an open confrontation with the Union Home Ministry. The CPI(M)'s statement is, in effect, a public test of which side the young government will choose. The intervention comes as Left parties are already agitating across Tamil Nadu against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which they allege has deleted lakhs of voters. CPI(M) politburo member Vasuki and CPI state secretary Veerapandian led protests on Thursday demanding the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner, with the Left claiming 13 crore deletions nationwide. For the Left, the demographic committee's interest in the religious identity of deleted voters connects the two battles: a state machinery that first strikes names off the rolls, then asks which religion the struck-off belonged to. Whether the TVK government — headed by a first-time chief minister navigating his first major confrontation with the Centre — accepts the CPI(M)'s demand for a boycott will signal how far its Dravidian rhetoric extends when Delhi pushes back.