New Delhi: Raising concerns over the rise in Muslim population in the religious data of Census, the RSS publication ‘Organiser has wondered if the the trend is a “larger conspiracy to Islamise Bharat”.
At the same time, the editorial termed the decline in Sikhs and Buddhists numbers in religious data of Census as “worrisome” and said whenever indigenous faiths have declined separatist tendencies increase and called for concrete policy measures to correct it.
Noting that growth rate of Hindus and Muslim in India is inversely proportionate and the imbalance is increasing in the last three decades, with the community registered such growth the consecutive third time, it said Muslims share rose by the same 0.8 percentage points between 1981-1991 and 1991-2001 in total population of the country.
“Is this growth all about the growing size of Muslim families? Is it a larger conspiracy to Islamise Bharat? Is it to do just with the less economic development of the community as some reports claim?,” it questioned.
“Bharat is expected to have 311 million Muslims in 2050, which is 11 per cent of the global total. This will make India the largest population of Muslims in the world,” the editorial titled ‘Making numbers policy relevant' said.
It also slammed Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for his remarks that the latest religious data would lead to “communal violence”, saying that a leader of a party that “nurtured” the “politics of votebank” in the name of “secularism” is now rubbishing the numbers on communal grounds.
“The other religious groupings who are comparative insignificant in political parlance but more rooted in Bhartiya traditions like Sikhs and Buddhists have actually declined in numbers, is also worrisome. Whenever indigenous faiths have declined in numbers, the separatist tendencies increased is also a historical fact.
“The ‘seculars' like Mani Shankar Aiyar do not want to encounter with this reality. His raising of the communal tension bogie also answers the rationale behind UPA government not releasing the data earlier.
Unless we accept that the issues brought up by this Census are national concerns and come up with concrete policy measures about them, whole exercise of Census would be a mere ritual,” it said.
The editorial said two reasons that can be attributed to the above average growth rate of Muslims is illegal migration and conversion.
“Growth of Muslim population in Pashchim Banga (West Bengal) and Assam definitely indicate the insidious illegal migration issue, while in other cases it can be linked to conversion issue,” it said.
Hitting out at Aiyar for his remarks that the data will lead of communal flare-up, it said, “It is strange that a representative of the party who nurtured the politics of ‘vote bank politics' in the name of ‘secularism', is now rubbishing the numbers on communal grounds and denying it's policy relevance.”
