Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday claimed that the Muslim population in his state is growing around 30 per cent every 10 years, and they will become the majority by 2041.Addressing a press conference here, he said Muslims have now become 40 per cent of Assam’s population as per “statistical sampling”.
“In 2011, 1.4 crore Muslims were there in Assam. By 2041, Assam will become a Muslim-majority state. It’s a reality and nobody can stop it,” Sarma asserted.
According to the 2011 census, Assam had a total Muslim population of 1.07 crore, making up 34.22 per cent of the total 3.12 crore residents. There were 1.92 crore Hindus in the state, around 61.47 per cent of the total population.
“We will get some results from the steps taken by our government in the last three years, but the size of the problem is enormous,” he said.
In a dig at the Congress, Sarma said the most important role to control population rise can be played by the party as the Muslim community “listens to them”.
“If Rahul Gandhi (Leader of Opposition) becomes the brand ambassador of population control, it will work very fast. You don’t need to get married and give birth to 12 children to become a brand ambassador. You go to a Muslim village today with two names — Himanta Biswa Sarma or Rahul Gandhi — everyone will say they will listen to what Rahul Gandhi says,” he said.
“If you consider them as votes and political leaders don’t join the population control movement, what can we do? The Muslim political leaders themselves have two children, but they never advice villagers about limiting the number of children to two,” Sarma said.