The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday expressed concern over the pace of increase in Muslim population in the country and wondered its impact on the reservation provided to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Communities, claiming the Congress is "hell-bent" on providing quota to the minority community if voted to power.
The ruling party's reaction came after a recent working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister said the share of the Hindu population decreased by 7.82 percent between 1950 and 2015 in India, while that of Muslims increased by 43.15 percent, suggesting that there is a conducive environment in the country to foster diversity.
The paper titled 'Share of Religious Minorities: A Cross-Country Analysis (1950-2015)' further said the share of Jains in the population of India decreased from 0.45 percent in 1950 to 0.36 percent in 2015.
The report comes ahead of the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
"It's a very well-known fact, which has been in the public domain for around a decade. If you see the 1951 census, Hindus were having 88 percent population and Muslims 9.5 percent. In the 2011 census, Hindus (population) reduced to 79.8 percent from 80 percent while Muslims' percentage went up by more than 14.5," BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told PTI, when asked for comment.
"But, the question arises that if by this pace the population is increasing and Congress is hell-bent upon giving reservation to the Muslims on the basis of population, they will cut the share of the SCs, STs and the OBCs," he added.
Trivedi said the Congress, if voted to power will, then keep on "changing" the share of reservation in future with increase in the Muslim population, "which is more likely because they (Muslims) are having possibility of multiple marriages".
Muslims' share in the reservation will keep on increasing also because of "conversion and infiltration because they are having a secular cover from them (the Congress)", he added.
"So this is a bigger question and a bigger challenge which they (Congress) have to answer," the BJP spokesperson said.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the EAC-PM's report raises many questions because one particular community is "increasing its population in a manner where demography of India is being altered, changed".
"This leads to some questions that need to be asked and answered," he said, adding "How much of growth in Muslim community is being caused by illegal immigration and conversion?" he asked.
"What is the impact of this significant increase in the minority community's (Muslims) population on the rights and opportunities (available) for the other minority communities? There are Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians. Is there any crowding out of these minority communities as a consequence of this (rise in Muslim population)?" Chandrasekhar asked.
He alleged that some political parties including the Congress are making "huge attempts to alter the Constitution and bring religion-based reservation".
"So, what will be the consequence when you have the Muslim community increasing its population so rapidly, from 9 percent to 14.5 percent and there are political forces that want to give them reservation," he told PTI.
"What will be the consequence of that on the OBC, SC and ST communities who suffered for centuries in India and have been excluded from development," he said, adding that these are the questions which needs to be asked and answered because they will shape the future of India.
