AIMIM chief cites census data to counter Shah’s claim of demographic imbalance, says government’s own figures show Muslim fertility rate has dropped the most.
NEW DELHI — All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of telling lies in his remarks concerning infiltration and disparity in population growth across all religions.
In an interview with ANI, Owaisi said that the Muslim population has increased by 4.4 per cent from the first census to the 2011 census, and taking a jibe at Amit Shah, he said his mathematics is weak.
He said, “Amit Shah made a statement about the population. He is telling lies after lies. From the first census to the 2011 census, the Muslim population has increased by 4.4 per cent. Mohan Bhagwat stated that the population of one community is increasing significantly, while Yogi Adityanath later claimed that the population of indigenous people is decreasing. Mohan Bhagwat is now saying to have three children.”
“If there are 10 people (in a population) and an increase of 10 people, it will look like a 100 per cent increase. I don’t know if Amit Shah’s mathematics is this weak,” he added.
Further, the AIMIM chief questioned the Union Home Minister, asking him to stop the infiltration in the country.
“Government statistics show that the total fertility rate of Muslims has fallen the most. If someone is infiltrating, you are a minister, why can’t you stop them?… If you call every Bengali-speaking Indian Muslim a Bangladeshi, then this is wrong,” he said.
This comes after Amit Shah’s remarks on Friday, stating that the disparity in population growth across all religions observed in the censuses from 1951 to 2011 is primarily due to infiltration.
He claimed that the Muslim population has increased at a rate of 24.6 per cent, while the Hindu population has decreased by 4.5 per cent. Shah clarified that this decline is not due to the fertility rate but rather due to infiltration. — ANI
