Union Minister and President of West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party Sukanta Majumdar has come in support of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s recent remark that Assam will become a Muslim-majority state by 2041, and stated that the demographic change is not through biological means but there are other reasons behind it. As per a Jagran report, he asserted, “The Chief Minister of Assam is right. The situation in West Bengal is more or less the same. The infiltration has also altered the population here.”
Majumdar pointed out that in the 70 to 75 years after independence, there have been demographic shifts not just in Assam but throughout eastern India, particularly in the border regions. The union minister added, “The fact that this population has not grown biologically should be a matter of concern for all. Children would have been born, raised and granted citizenship in the nation if there had been a natural increase in the numbers. There wouldn’t have been a reason to worry if the population profile had transformed in this manner. These people have come from outside.”
He further highlighted, “Demography has been altered deliberately and it has been planned from somewhere outside the country. West Bengal has nine districts presently that are Muslim majority, compared to three that were predominantly Muslim both before and after independence. How is this happening? Where is it coming from and why is the population expanding at such a rapid rate? This is not how a rise in population unfolds organically.”
Himanta Biswa Sarma, on 19th July, forewarned that the state will turn into Muslim-majority by 2041. He revealed that the number of Muslims was increasing by about 30% every ten years. According to him, “statistical sampling” indicates that Muslims now make up 40% of the state’s population. “The increase in the population of Muslims in Assam is a statistical fact. The rate of population increase of Muslims is much more than of Hindus and at this rate, they will be a majority by 2041.”
He unveiled that the number of Hindus is rising by around 16 per cent in comparison to the Muslim population growth during the same period. “Hindu population has increased by 16 per cent. Muslims constituted 1.40 crore of Assam’s population in 2011. There is an increase of 30 per cent in the Muslim population every 10 years. In every decade, the Muslim population is outstripping the Hindu population by 16 per cent. In every decade, there is an addition of 22 lakh Muslim population.”
