Demography Mission rollout amid raging debate over SIR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that his government would soon set up a high-powered demography mission to deal with unlawful entry of foreign nationals in the country.

- Mukesh Ranjan @ New Delhi

The announcement comes in the wake of the Opposition's allegations that the BJP is "misusing" the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar to target immigrants, especially those belonging to the minority community.

In his Independence Day speech delivered from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi noted that India's forefathers made the supreme sacrifice to win freedom for the countrymen, and it is the duty of its citizens not to accept such influx of illegal foreign nationals.