I recently came across a small booklet written in Marathi by Dr Shrirang Godbole titled, “Ahindu Loksankhyecha Visfot” (published Oct ’04 by “Bharatiya Vichar Sadhana” in Pune.
The book dealt with the explosive growth in non-Hindu populations in India. Below are some of the more startling statistics included in the book. I am not sure if a translation is available, nevertheless these facts will give you a flavour of the contents.
The book starts by noting that the boycott by Hindus of the census in 1921, 1931 and 1941 (I’m not clear about the exact reasons) and the resultant misrepresentation (under-representation?) in population statistics may have led to Hindus loosing out on several important decisions related to opportunities in government and administration, political reforms and constitutional matters at the time of Partition.
But coming back to the real point, here are some highlights:
· Of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, Muslims are in a majority in 12. Of these, 4 are in J & K, one in Lakshdweep and the rest are in Kishanganj (Bihar, 66%), Ponani (Kerala, 66%), Jangipur (W Bengal, 59%), Murshidabad (W Bengal, 58%), Manjeri (Kerala, 56%), Dhubri (Assam, 55%) , Raiganj (W Bengal, 55%). However, Muslims hold a decisive vote in anywhere between 90-100 constituencies in the country. In Uttar Pradesh, politically one of the most important states, Muslims constitute more than 20% of the voting population in more than 34 Lok Sabha constituencies (of a total of 543). (Pg 18)
· There is no demonstrable link between illiteracy (or under-development) and Muslim population as many commentators would lead us to believe. In Maharashtra, although Hindus have a lower rate of literacy (both in terms of males and females), Muslims have a higher birth rate than Hindus in every single district (Pg 22)
· Amongst all the states in India, Assam has seen the maximum decline in Hindu population. In the 4 districts bordering Bangladesh (Dhubri, Golpara, Hailakandi and Karimganj), Muslims constitute between 52% ~ 75% of the population. Between 1991 and 2001, Muslim growth rate in Assam in was 29.3% compared to 14.8% for non-Muslims. Today, 10 out of 23 districts in Assam are Muslim majority
· Of the 9 boundary districts in W Bengal, all except 3 have Muslim majority
· In Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, Muslim population grew by 150% and 180% respectively. Nagaland has 16 major tribes but there has been a “new” addition in the last 10 years – “Semiyan” (persons descended from Bangaldeshi men - “Mian” and Naga women) which is a designated Muslim tribe
· In R K Ohri’s book (“Long March of Islam – The Future Imperfect”, Manas Publications, N Delhi, pp 235, 238), Sarifa Begum has estimated that between 1981 and 1991, 14 ~ 15 million Bangladeshis illegally entered (and consequently disappeared) in India. As conclusive evidence, the population growth in boundary districts on the Indian side has consistently outpaced the growth in boundary districts on the Bangladeshi side (see table below)
| Bangladeshi boundary region | Population Growth Rate | Adjoining Indian region | Population Growth Rate |
| Greater Jessore and Greater Khulna | 1.97% and 1.58% | North 24 Parganas, W Bengal | 3.16% |
| Greater Maimensingh | 1.82% | Garo Hills, Meghalaya | 3.84% |
| Greater Commila | 1.89% | Tripura | 3.36% |
· In 2003, George Fernandes has gone on record saying that illegal infiltration from Bangladesh into India has consistently been running at a rate of more than 1 lakh persons per year (p 235 of Sh Ohri’s book)
When will we wake up?
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