Minister Rijiju's comment about falling Hindu population sparks outrage

New Delhi: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday stirred a controversy with remark that the population of the Hindus in India was going down as they "never convert people", while minorities are flourishing unlike some other countries.

With polling due for assembly elections in three states, Congress reacted sharply, asking the Election Commission to take "very serious cognizance" of the "extremely irresponsible statements".

"Hindu population is reducing in India because Hindus never convert people. Minorities in India are flourishing unlike some countries around (sic)," Rijiju tweeted.

The Minister of State for Home's comment came after the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to convert Arunachal Pradesh into a Hindu state.

"Why is Congress making such irresponsible statements? People of Arunachal Pradesh are unitedly living peacefully with each other (sic).

"Congress should not make such provocative statements. India is a secular country. All religious groups enjoy freedom & living peacefully (sic)," he said in a series of tweets, responding to the APCC's charge.

Rijiju hails from Arunachal Pradesh and is a practising Buddhist.

"The Election Commission must take very serious cognizance of this extremely irresponsible statement/tweets put out by MoS for Home," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.

Citing census data for 2011, Tewari said the population growth rate of followers of other religions had fallen more than that of the Hindus.

He claimed while the population growth of Hindus slowed down to 16.76 per cent from 19.92 per cent between 1991 and 2001, those of the Muslims fell to 24.60 per cent in 2001-11 from 29.52 per cent in 1991-2001.

He said Rijiju's conduct was "unbecoming" of a Union Minister and used it to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"It is not surprising. If the Prime Minister can use national security as a prop, there is nothing which stops his Ministers from going a step further and trying to attempt a religious polarisation," he said.

"If you read that tweet, the intent is implicit in it but the fact remains that when a Minister of the Union makes such an irresponsible statement, he must be held to account," he said.

Reacting to Rijiju's statement, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said he should remember that he is a "minister of India for all Indians not for Hindus only".

"Remember your oath as minister," the Hyderabad MP said."Wht have the minorities (in) India got to do with minorities of 'other' countries. It is Constitution which guarantees rights (sic)," he tweeted.

According to the 2011 Census, Hindus make up India's 79.80 per cent of population, Muslims 14.23 per cent, Christians 2.30 per cent, Sikhs 1.72 per cent, Buddhists 0.70 per cent and Jains 0.37 per cent.

The country's Hindu population as per the 2001 Census was 80.5 per cent, while that of Muslims was 13.4 per cent, Christians 2.3 per cent, Sikhs 1.9 per cent, Buddhists 0.80 per cent and Jains 0.4 per cent.