Pawan Khera, a senior Congress member, blasted Union Home Minister‑turned‑Cooperation Minister Amit Shah after Shah made remarks about India’s Muslim population.
Khera accused Shah of stoking religious tensions just before the country’s national elections and said the comments were an attempt to polarise voters.
The criticism came after Shah told a news gathering on October 10 that the growth gap between Hindus and Muslims seen in the 1951‑2011 censuses was mainly the result of “infiltration.” He said the Muslim share rose by 24.6 % while the Hindu share fell by 4.5 % over the period, and that this shift was not due to fertility but to migration from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Khera took to X (formerly Twitter) to call Shah’s comment “uncooperative” and suggested it was an effort to fan a Hindu‑Muslim fire for political gain. He then pointed out that in the 11 years Shah had been in power no official action had been taken to address demographic fears. After posting the criticism, Shah’s tweet was deleted, but the debate lingered on social media.
One of the key points Khera raised was the difference in deportations between the two major parties. Under the Congress governments from 2005 to 2013, 88,792 Bangladeshi nationals were deported. Under BJP rule, less than 10,000 were deported in the same span. Khera said the silent BJP had been criticised for not talking about removal, while Congress never boasted.
The conversation touches on the broader narrative the BJP has promoted—often called the “infiltration” debate—that claims a surge in the Muslim population threatens India’s cultural and national identity. Khera, meanwhile, warns that until the public understands the interplay of infiltration, demography, and democracy, India’s future remains uncertain.
For context, the census data show a steady decline in the Hindu share: 84 % in 1951, 82 % in 1971, 81 % in 1991, and 89 % in 2011, while the Muslim share rose from 9.8 % to 14.2 % over the same period. These numbers provide the backdrop for the current political debate.
Source: aninews
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