New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the government will launch a tech-enabled “smart border” project by the next year to make the 6,000-km fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh impenetrable and ensure that the “conspiracy” to change the demography of the country is defeated.
Delivering the annual Rustamji Memorial lecture hosted by the Border Security Force (BSF) here, the minister also reiterated that the government will find each and every infiltrator and send them out of India.
K F Rustamji was the founding father and the first director general of the BSF, the world’s largest border guarding force with about 2.70 lakh personnel tasked to guard Indian borders with Pakistan on the west and Bangladesh on the east. It was raised in 1965.
“The government of India has decided that not only will we stop infiltration but we will find each and every infiltrator and send them out of the country,” Shah said.
He added his government will not allow “artificial change in our demography being attempted from the other side.”
“I want to assure BSF troops that we will launch the smart border project within the 60th year of its raising and we will make the Bangladesh and Pakistan borders impenetrable through major technical assistance,” Shah said.
The “smart border” will use technology, drones, radars and smart cameras to help create an impenetrable border, he told the gathering.
Calling these two borders “vulnerable” and a “cause of concern” for the country from the security point of view, Shah said these fronts (about 1,289 km with Pakistan and 4,096 km with Bangladesh) cannot be guarded with “traditional” methods.
The concept of border security should not be seen in isolation but as a “territorial responsibility” involving all agencies and state governments, he said.
He said these borders currently face threats like illegal infiltration, smuggling of drugs, weapons and arms through drones apart from cattle, fake Indian currency notes and organised crime.
“It is most important to identify future dangers, and it is our responsibility to stop the artificial demographic change being attempted from the other side (of the border) through infiltration, and, for this, we have to remain alert and vigilant,” he told the officers and jawans in attendance.
Shah said the Modi government brought a “radical” change to the security policy and border protection perspective since it took charge in 2014.
“We have defeated all three attacks carried out by Pakistan whether it was in Uri (2016), Pulwama (2019), or Pahalgam (2026)…we have given them a befitting response by striking deep inside Pakistan,” he said.
Shah asserted that gone were the days when talks used to happen after a terrorist attack and when Naxalites used to undertake massacres without any fear.
“We have aligned our security perspective with the spirit of the Constitution to strengthen it… all this, in a way, is a declaration of a new defence doctrine,” he said.
He said his government took a “firm” decision to free India from Naxalism and this target was achieved recently. The minister said it was his belief that security agencies and forces should work to “uproot” the cause of the problem and just not “control” it.
He asked the BSF troops in border areas to establish communication with the local administration so that they can identify any infiltrator living in the area and effectively plug border gaps aiding smuggling and other illegal activities.
“It is time that the infiltration taking place unhindered for years is stopped. You have done this earlier, for example, by creating a Naxal-free India,” he said.
Shah said the current state governments in Tripura, West Bengal and Assam — all led by the BJP — believe in the policy that there should be no infiltration from across Indian borders. His ministry, Shah added, will soon hold a meeting with the chief ministers of these states on the subject of border security.
The minister added that a high-powered demography mission declared earlier by PM Modi will be announced soon by the Union government.
Shah declared that the Union government was planning to launch a “big programme” within the next one year for the welfare of CAPF jawans, adding that they will also initiate a “big operation” against narcotics trafficking in the country.
During the event, the minister honoured BSF jawans and officers with gallantry medals including to those who were part of the ‘Operation Sindoor’.
