Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday said India’s Muslim population had soared from 9.8 per cent in 1951 to 14.2 per cent in 2011 because of “infiltration” from Pakistan and Bangladesh and not a high fertility rate.
His comment appeared to contradict the Rightwing ecosystem’s longstanding conspiracy theory about a “population jihad”, under which Muslims produce more children with the intent of outnumbering Hindus.
Narendra Modi had himself, as Gujarat chief minister in 2002, stoked fears about a high fertility rate among Muslims, and mocked the post-riot relief camps as baby-producing factories.
“Hum paanch, humare pachchees,” he had quipped, implying that Muslim men tended to marry four women each and produce 25 children.
However, in his Independence Day speech this year, Modi, now Prime Minister, said that “infiltrators” were causing demographic changes.
“The Muslim population has increased by 24.6 per cent whereas the Hindu population has decreased by 4.5 per cent,” Shah told an event in Delhi on Friday.
“This hasn’t happened because of the fertility rate (but) because of infiltration from Pakistan and Bangladesh.”
Shah said Hindus were 84 per cent of India’s population in 1951 and Muslims made up 9.8 per cent.
“In 2011 (the last population census), Hindus were 79 per cent while Muslims were 14.2 per cent,” he said.
He added: “Who are the infiltrators? Those who have not faced religious persecution and want to come to India illegally, for economic or other reasons, are infiltrators. If anyone in the world who wants to come here is allowed to do so, our country will become a dharamshala.”
Shah said that nobody was questioning the citizenship of Muslims who had willingly stayed back in this country after Partition. “But those who come here illegally will be treated as infiltrators.”
The home minister said the 2011 census had found a 29.6 per cent growth in the Muslim population in Assam.
“This is not possible without infiltration. In West Bengal, the population of Muslims rose to 40 per cent in some districts, and to 70 per cent in some border districts,” Shah said.
He tried to throw back at the Trinamool Congress its allegation that any infiltration reflected Shah’s failure as home minister since the BSF reported to his ministry.
“It has become difficult to stop infiltration because of the riverine border and harsh terrain. Nobody can stop infiltration from these points. The Centre cannot alone stop infiltration as (infiltration) is supported by political parties who see it as a vote bank,” he said.
“I want to ask the TMC where these infiltrators go first after crossing the border. Why does no official from the district revenue department complain to the police regarding them? Who makes Aadhaar?”
Modi and Shah have repeatedly accused the Mamata Banerjee government of facilitating infiltration from Bangladesh, claiming the infiltrators represent a key vote bank for her.
Shah said that neither infiltration nor the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls should be viewed through a political prism.
“The Opposition is opposing the exercise because its vote banks are getting eroded…. It is the EC’s constitutional responsibility to clean the voters’ list. You can go to court if you have any issues,” he said.