The population of Muslims in India is declining fast as compared to Hindus, Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh claimed on Thursday. Responding to a journalist’s query on the Congress’ stand on conducting a Census, Singh slammed the RSS and the BJP for spreading “false propaganda” on the rising number of Muslims in India.
“The propaganda of BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that the Muslim population is increasing in the country is completely false, wrong and unverified because the minority community’s population is decreasing at a faster pace as compared to Hindus and I can prove it,” he said.
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Singh’s remarks come days after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought to dismiss the perception that minorities were being persecuted under the rule of the Narendra Modi government. Responding to a query during an event in Washington DC earlier this week, Sitharaman claimed that the population of Muslims was on the rise in India.
“India has the second-largest Muslim population in the world, and that population is only growing in numbers. If there is a perception, or if there’s a reality, that their lives are difficult or made difficult with the support of the state, which is what is implied in most of these write-ups, I would ask, will the Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?” the Finance Minister said, responding to the question posed by the president of US think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), Adam S Posen.
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Singh also backed the demand for a nationwide Census and said that the results should factor in the number of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). “My stand on the census is that it should be conducted, and its results should come out on the basis of the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Till now, only the results of the 2011 census are available. The figures after that are not yet released by them. Census should be conducted,” he said.
BJP accuses Congress of appeasement politics
The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh was quick to latch on to Singh’s remarks and accused the grand old party of indulging in the politics of appeasement. MP minister Vishvas Sarang said that the Congress leader was giving “false statements” in a bid to divide society on the lines of caste and religion.
Rejecting the BJP’s charge of indulging in vote-bank politics, Singh said that the Congress has always worked for the welfare of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and deprived sections of society.
MP Elections 2023 a contest between Congress and BJP
Singh also touched upon the upcoming Assembly elections in the state due to be held by the year-end and said that the primary contest would remain between the Congress and the BJP. Dismissing the entry of other players like the BSP, AIMIM, GGP and AAP, Singh said the parties are entering the poll fray in MP to help BJP in dividing the Congress.
“They won’t be able to come to power. The fight is between Congress and BJP,” he said.
