NEW YORK - Pew Data also suggests that while religious groups across the country witnessed irregular rates between 1951 and 2011, all major religious groups rose in number.
The data shows that “the Hindu community increased from 304 million to 966 million, while Muslims grew from 35 million to 172 million, and the number of Indians who call themselves Christian rose from 8 million to 28 million”. Considering the three, Islam and Christianity are proselytising religions.
However, Hindu Army chief Sushil Tiwari told The Wire that Muslims were trying to occupy land and produce more children so that they can elect Muslim leaders to power. “Muslims marry multiple times and produce children who then vote to bring leaders like [Asaduddin] Owaisi to power.
They want to commit ‘population jihad’ and establish Ghazwa-e-Hind here,” he said. Countering Tiwari, Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, former Minorities Commission chairman, explained that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and like-minded outfits are not concerned about facts.
Their policy, Khan says, is to twist anything if it may be used to beat Muslims. “The government data, for instance, shows that Muslims are below even Hindus when it comes to polygamy but it’s a daily Hindutva propaganda routine that Muslims marry four wives and produce 25 children,” Khan said. In the right-wing political parlance, Muslims are labelled as a community that is devoted to doubling its population numbers and occupying land illegally.
Such allegations have resulted in the coinage of slurs and terms such as ‘population jihad’, implying a type of coordinated attempt by Muslims to become the majority community in India. According to India’s last census, conducted in 2011, Muslims make up 14% of the population, while Hindus 80%.
