New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- On July 28, 2025, Assam's Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made a striking demographic projection stating that by the year 2041 Assam's Hindu and Muslim populations may stand at near parity of a 50:50 ratio. He attributed this projected equilibrium not just to birth rate differentials but to the long-standing issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh. The statement was not simply a statistical estimate but a powerful rhetorical moment, one that has again revived the long-standing debates about migration, indigeneity, and the future of Assamese society.

The claim reverberated across Assam's political and social landscape, but one needs to question: whether the statement was an objective forecast, a calculated poli...