New Delhi, Sept. 8: The church today objected to religion-based census even as the National Commission for Minorities set up a cell to analyse the data and take ?corrective? steps.

?It (population growth) is a national problem and not that of a particular community,? Father Babu Joseph, the spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said here.

Questioning the ?fairness? and ?objectivity? of the census exercise, he said: ?The Christian population has been declining steadily since the last two decades. From 2.7 per cent 20 years ago, it has come down to 2.3 per cent as per the latest census. The increase (in the 10 years till the latest census) has been just 0.9 per cent.?

The minorities commission, however, has welcomed the data and is planning a meeting of religious leaders to discuss it and the steps to be taken.

Calling the census unacceptable and biased, Joseph took a pot-shot at BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu and RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav without naming them.

?The kind of fears (on minority population growth) expressed by certain political leaders in India do not go well with national interest, integrity and unity,? he said.

Naidu had said the ?imbalance? in the composition of the population was ?disturbing? while Madhav said the RSS? warnings about demographic changes ?stand vindicated?.

Joseph said: ?Population growth in India should be seen as a national issue and tackled accordingly and not be reduced to a sectarian issue.?

Population explosion, he added, should be addressed from the social and economic angles as both Muslim and Christian communities have a sizeable number of people who are economically backward.

The church is of the view that unfair comments on population growth of a particular community will create fear psychosis and hatred in society.

Church officials wondered why the ?phenomenal? increase in the Jain population was not being commented on.

Minorities panel chairman Tarlochan Singh appreciated the government?s move to make the religion-wise data public.

?It is good that the government decided to release the figures instead of keeping them under the carpet.? he said.

He added that no political motive should be attached to the ?academic document?, which should be considered a guidebook on the shortcomings or problems of each community.

The minority panel?s cell ? comprising eminent demographers K.M. Kulkarni, M. Bhat and T.K. Roy and headed by Ashish Bose, director of the Society for Applied Research in Humanity ? will analyse the data and suggest ?corrective steps? to address the problems and issues concerning all communities, Singh said.