CENSUS COMMISSION REPORT

In India, Muslims grew at a rate of 36 per cent over 1991 - 2001 and Hindus at 20.5 per cent, according to a census commission report released recently.

The BJP and RSS have seized on the report, and are crying foul to evoke fear in the public that the Muslims will soon outnumber the Hindu population.

But is this overgrowth a scheme? The Muslim fundamentalist might be grinning in anticipation, but it is a fact that Muslims grow in a compulsive way under a strange atmospheric of poverty, illiteracy and joblessness coupled with their religious customs and practice.

Muslims have always been viewed as a votebank, and every political party has used them to this end, without ever addressing their real problems.

The excess of growth of the Muslim population is a pointer to the gross abuse of this community by our rulers, and indeed a shame to our nation.
MRINAL BOSE