Debate over Hindu-Muslim count between 1950 & 2015: How politicians and experts reacted

New Delhi, May 9 A report by the Economic Advisory Council to PM on the rising Muslim population and declining Hindi populace made for a good political fodder on Thursday.

The report, besides sending ripples in political space, triggered a war of words between parties.

The report found that between 1950 and 2015, the Hindu population in the country declined by 7.82 per cent while the Muslim population grew at 43 per cent.

Union Minister and firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh said that the drastic rise in the Muslim population was a matter of concern and if not addressed timely, will have serious ramifications.

Giriraj Singh said: "In 1947, the population of Hindus was 88 per cent while that of Muslims was 8 per cent. Today, Hindus have been reduced to 70 per cent while Muslims have seen rise by many percentage. Data says they are at 14 per cent but I say their population is not less than 20 per cent. If corrective steps are not taken immediately, it will have serious repercussions."

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said it was right that country's demography was changing.

"In every state across the country, Muslim population was on an uptrend while that of Hindus are on a decline. This is a fact based data and there is nothing imaginary about it," he said.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya blamed the Congress for unhindered growth of one community at the cost of other.

"Hindus have seen consistent decline while Muslim population have been soaring. Congress party is to blame for this. It only pursued appeasement of one community and brought no population policy. There is an urgent for Uniform Civil Code," he said.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told IANS that in 1950s, the population of Muslims was comparatively less while the number of learned Muslims was higher.

"Earlier, their icons were people like Ustaad Bismillah Khan, Ustaad Zakir Hussain, Ghulam Ali while today, people like Zakir Naik, Ishrat Jahan, Yakub Memon, Atiq Ahmed and more have emerged as their representatives. This has much to do with rise in their population," he said.

"The rise in their population resulted in their degradation. Muslim community should introspect into this rather than reacting with anger over findings," he added.

BJP spokesperson RP Singh said that there is no doubt that the imbalance in Hindu-Muslim population, as compared to 1950, is the result of bad policies of Congress regimes.

"They amended and tailored the laws to suit their demands. They gave concessions in Muslim Personal Law and made titled laws, this led to such imbalance," he added.

Congress leader Udit Raj, replying to query on the EAC-PM report, slammed the current dispensation for not conducting Census in 2021.

"Census is due for long. This government is deliberately delaying it. Unless, there is a detailed survey, we won't get to know the real demography," he said.

Former Congress veteran Acharya Pramod Krishnam hit out at the INDIA bloc for plunging numbers of Hindus. He said that the Opposition wants to divide the majority, so that it succeeds in pushing its dangerous agenda. Manu Gaur, the TAXAB president also raised concerns over the changing demography and said that an effective population policy was the need to time to arrest this disparity.

All India Muslim Jamaat chief Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Barelvi said that there was not truth in this report.

"Every community has seen growth in their numbers, over the years. It's understood that those belonging to poor and deprived sections will have bigger families but this can't seen through a religious prism," he said.

"When people get literate and become well-equipped, they tend to limit their numbers as they understand its benefits," he said further to prove his point.