Hyderabad: AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday said the Muslim population would never exceed the Hindu population in India, rejecting claims that the community’s numbers were growing disproportionately.
Addressing a rally in Nizamabad ahead of the Telangana municipal polls, Owaisi referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speech in the Rajya Sabha, in which he noted that while much of the world’s population was ageing, India had a young population.
Owaisi questioned what steps had been taken by the government if nearly 60 per cent of India’s population was below the age of 40. He asked what employment opportunities had been created for them and what skills had been imparted.
“After 20 years, this young population will age. We do not think about how much inflation they will face or how much they will need to spend. Instead, they say the Muslim population is growing,” he said, adding that the Muslim population would stabilise and would never surpass the Hindu population in the country.
He said the government was now realising that India’s ageing population over the next 25 to 30 years would pose serious challenges. Referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for people to have at least three children, Owaisi remarked that Bhagwat himself was not following that advice.
Owaisi said that earlier, there were claims that a population control bill would be introduced and that Muslims were frequently criticised in that context. He added that the government had now begun to understand how an ageing population could affect the nation.
Commenting on Pakistan’s decision to boycott its T20 World Cup match against India, Owaisi said India was hosting the tournament and criticised Pakistan’s stance, calling the team “useless” for saying it would not play the match. He alleged that the Indian government had remained silent on the issue.
Owaisi also attacked the Modi government for what he described as its silence on the border issue with China.
With PTI inputs