Recent remarks by Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo have reignited concerns over the Indian government’s settler colonial policies aimed at altering the demographic complexion of the occupied Kashmir Valley—a region with over 98% Muslim population.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Kolkata, Chrungoo, a BJP leader and former office bearer of a Kashmiri Pandit group, lifted the lid off the BJP’s game plan for Kashmir, which contains elements with the potential to turn the region into another Gaza. While much of his interview covered familiar territory, the most explosive revelation came when he suggested that the Indian state is actively seeking to “balance” the Valley’s population by settling lakhs of Hindus from outside—confirming fears widely held among the Muslim population since the constitutional changes of 2019.
Chrungoo argued that efforts to address this “demographic challenge” extend beyond Kashmir to other parts of India where Muslims are, or risk becoming, a majority, citing Bengal, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district. “So far as Kashmir is concerned, I believe the Indian State is thinking of addressing its demographic balancing,” he stated. “People are working on it.”