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A large number of speakers at a seminar in the Capital on Sunday expressed concern over the fast-dwindling Hindu population of the Country. The seminar was titled National Seminar on Religious Demograpy: Ramifications & Remedies.
Organised by India First Foundation at the Lok Kala Manch here, the seminar was inaugrated by BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP V K Malhotra. He said that between 1951 and 1991 there has been a decline in Hindu population, yet some political parties were trying to adopt an indifferent approach towards the issue. He called for urgent remedial measures, including implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.
Terming it as a "serious issue" for the country, he said the rise in the number of Bangladeshi immigrants and large-scale conversions being carried out in some parts of the country have also contributed to the rise in minority population.
If statistics are anything to go by, globally Muslims have improved their share in world population from 12 to 19 per cent between 1900-90. Of 984 million Muslims in the world, 702 millions are in Asia, he said. Muslim population has registered a sharp growth in the northern border areas of India comprising eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. The share of Muslims in the border areas is now 28 per cent.
"There will be a kind of tectonic plate change and an explosion in India if the religious demograpy in India continues to be ignored, the way it has been since Independence," said Sangh ideologue S Gurumurthy.
Raising the issue of some historic blunders, Mr Gurumurthy said the custom of athithi devo bhavah was misused in our country and therefore an easy assimilation of population. "Still the Hindus are unaware and unconscious of how a change in religious demography is a matter of concern," Mr Murthy said reminding the audience that America has a policy of "clear cleansing of the Muslims" by means of strict immigration laws and visa restrictions, etc.
The day long seminar was attended by distinguished personalities and included RSS chief K Sudershan and All India Muslim Council spokesman Syed Mufti Ikram.
Director of the Centre for Policy Studies J. K. Bajaj, who has done a detail documentation on the changing nature of religious demography said that Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, and Hailakandi districts of Assam have already become Muslim-majority districts.
Mufti Ikram said that "we Indians
fight very soon over the name of religion. "If we develop a sense of unity,
Pakistan can never dare to wage a battle against us". He said that in India,
Islam was spread by the Sufi Saints and not the Kings. And being an Indian
convert Muslim he is not ashamed to call himself a "Hindu- Muslim". Patriotism
and Nationalism should be our motto, he said.
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