New Delhi: Citing post-independence Census data, Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that it was not because of fertility but infiltrators that caused a significant increase in the Muslim population in India, PTI reported.
While addressing an event here on Friday, he said that in 1951, Hindus constituted 84 per cent of the population and Muslims 9.8 per cent, while in 1971, Hindus were 82 per cent and Muslims 11 per cent, in 1991, Hindus were 81 per cent and Muslims 12.21 per cent, while in 2011, Hindus were 79 per cent and Muslims 14.2 per cent.
"According to the 2011 census, the growth rate of Muslims was 24.6 per cent while that of Hindus was 16.8 per cent. This was not due to the fertility rate but because of infiltration," the BJP leader claimed.
Shah said in Assam, the decadal growth rate of the Muslim population in the 2011 census was 29.6 per cent.
"This is not possible without infiltration. In many districts of West Bengal, this growth rate is 40 per cent, and in several border areas, it has reached up to 70 per cent. This is clear evidence that infiltration has occurred in the past," Shah claimed.
The minister said some parties have started seeing a vote bank in infiltration, so they have given shelter to the infiltrators.
"Our Gujarat also has a border; Rajasthan has one too, but infiltration does not happen there," he claimed.
Shah said there has been a very significant decline in the population of tribal communities in Jharkhand, and the reason is infiltration from Bangladesh.
Backing the ongoing SIR exercise by the Election Commission, Shah said inclusion of infiltrators in the voters' list pollutes the spirit of the Constitution and asserted that voting rights should only be available to the citizens of the country.