Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader stoked up a controversy on Sunday as he called to review the definition of ‘minorities’ in the country. When there is last phase of elections remaining and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing a road show in Varanasi to assure for clear majority in UP, these ministers are trying to polarise the vote.
Making a polarising comment, he tweeted that the population of the Muslims has reached such level in the country that now they should be removed from minority category.
The minister also shared a report of ‘Pew Research Centre’ and called for a fresh debate on minorities of the country.
“We need to have a relook on the definition of minority tag given to the Muslims having a population of over 20 crores in the country,” he said.
Because Muslims have the youngest median age (30) of all religious groups, they are the fastest-growing such group in the world, and by 2050 , India will be the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, said Pew Research Centre, an American think tank, recently.
“The places where they (Muslims) are in large numbers as well as where they are less in number…at both places they are called ‘minority’,” he said.
“The Muslim population in the country was 21 crore and therefore, it is not proper to treat such a large population as the minority. A new law should be passed to change their minority status,” he said.
As per the state’s official records, their population is 19 per cent of Bihar’s 10.5 crore population. Muslims are in a majority in Kishanganj district, with 80 per cent population. But still they are getting minority status,” the minister said.
