PSF slams RSS 'partition horrors' remembrance day at TISS event; fact-checks 'false' demographic claims

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Hindutva agenda falsely claims that the partition was a “Muslim versus Hindu" conflict, the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF) alleged, while rejecting the RSS’s “communal propaganda” aimed at “saffronising higher education”.

The statement comes after Tata Institute of Social Sciences ( TISS ) along with Rashtriya Patrakarita Kalyan Nyas jointly hosted the screening of Demography is Destiny. Akhil Bharat Prachar Pramukh, Sunil Ambekar attended the event as chief guest, while the vice-chancellor of TISS Badri Narayan Tiwari was also present.

The PSF condemned the intention behind organising "partition horror" remembrance day by the RSS.

Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Kamakhya Narayan Singh and produced by Shri Ravindra Sanghvi, Demography is Destiny is a thought provoking documentary that presents an in-depth exploration of Bharat's demographic trends, the changing religious composition, and the socio-political consequences arising from these shifts, the RSS said.

According to the documentary, there has been significant demographic shifts across regions such as the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, Jammu, Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, and Assam where the Muslim population is reported to have risen from 14% to 42%, partly due to illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.

It also noted similar trends in Meerut, Moradabad, Saharanpur, and other districts of Western Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing India as ‘Bharat’, the official poster noted that the first census in India was held in 1881, which recorded the majority community at around 82%. This declined to 70% by 1941, before the partition of India-Pakistan took place. Although it rose to 84% in 1951, the figures sharply dropped to 79%.

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PSF fact-checks RSS narrative

The PSF strongly rejected the documentary’s demographic claims, calling them “hatred spreading through seminars, documentary screenings, social media campaigns and all other modes in campuses”. It urged students to stay united against “the RSS’s divisive propaganda”.

The documentary attributed the decline to rising Islamic populations, cultural changes and delayed marriages. It also addressed sensitive socio-political issues including infiltration, exodus, deceitful religious conversions, and the declining Total Fertility Rate (TFR) among Hindus.

Fact-checking the demographic narrative, the PSF shared the official National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data which showed that fertility rates have declined across all religious groups in India.

The data revealed that the gap between Hindus and Muslims in the TFR has narrowed sharply over the past two decades. In fact, the TFR among Muslims has fallen faster than the Hindus. Both Muslim and Hindu TFRs are now close to the replacement level. This clearly indicates that fears of a demographic imbalance are not supported by evidence, the PSF said.

The PSF accused the RSS of weaponising the tragedy of the 1947 partition “to spread fear, hatred, and communal division.”

It called the RSS’s historical framing “a deliberate distortion of history and data, designed to justify discrimination, violence, and authoritarian politics.”

The student group further alleged that the RSS “played no role in the freedom struggle” and was “banned after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by order of Sardar Patel.”

Opposing the “Muslim versus Hindu” framing, the PSF said that the partition was an outcome of the political failure of the "Divide and Rule" policy of British imperialism, and certainly not a religious war.