EAC report showing dip in share of Hindu population poses serious questions, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar; Amit Malviya blames Congress

EAC-PM report shows Hindu population decrease, sparking political debate on Muslim growth and religious-based reservations in India.

The recent report of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM (EAC-PM) said that in India, the share of the majority Hindu population decreased by 7.82% between 1950 and 2015 (from 84.68% to 78.06%), while the share of the Muslim population, which in 1950 was 9.84%, increased to 14.09% in 2015 — a 43.15% increase in their share.

According to the EAC report, the share of the Christian population rose from 2.24% to 2.36% — an increase of 5.38% between 1950 and 2015. The share of Sikh population increased from 1.24% in 1950 to 1.85% in 2015 — a 6.58% rise in their share.

Even the share of the Buddhist population witnessed a noticeable increase from 0.05% in 1950 to 0.81%. On the other hand, the share of Jains in the population of India decreased from 0.45% in 1950 to 0.36% in 2015. The share of the Parsi population in India witnessed a stark 85% decline, reducing from 0.03% share in 1950 to 0.004% in 2015.

Need serious answers: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that this is a very important report that poses questions that need serious answers. ”This is a very significant issue on which all Indians should seriously ask a few questions because if only the Muslim community has increased its population by such a significant number over the last several years. The questions to be asked need serious answers,” Mr. Chandrasekhar told ANI.

”How much of this growth has been because of illegal immigration and conversion? How much of this growth of the Muslim community alone, is crowding out the other minority communities like Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and Christians from the benefits that minorities get from the Government of India and State Governments?” he added.

Further, the Union Minister targeted the Congress over the reservation and said that given this large and increasing population of Muslims, some political parties want to alter the Constitution and give religious-based reservations. ”Given this large increasing population of one minority religion, the Muslims, and on top of that, some political parties want to alter the Constitution and give religious-based reservations to the Muslim community. What will that deadly combination of growth in population and reservations have on other much more deprived communities like OBCs, SCs and STs?” Mr. Chandrasekhar said.