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Muslims in UP not minority: HC
MUSLIM POPULATION IN INDIA AS PER CENSUS 2001 |
 Islam is India's largest minority religion, with Muslims officially constituting 16.4% of the country's population, or 174 million people as of the 2001 census. |
| However, unofficial estimates claim a far higher figure supposedly discounted in censuses. For instance, in an interview with a well circulated newspaper of India The Hindu Justice K.M. Yusuf, a retired Judge from Calcutta High Court and Chairman of West Bengal Minority Commission, has said that the real percentage of Muslims in India is at least 20%. |
| Even pro Hindutva people say in their reports that the Muslim population has reached 30%. |
| The largest concentrations--about 47% of all Muslims in India, according to the 2001 census - live in the 3 states of Uttar Pradesh (30.7 million) (18.5%), West Bengal (20.2 million) (25%), and Bihar (13.7 million) (16.5%). |
| Muslims represent a majority of the local population only in Jammu and Kashmir (67% in 2001) and Lakshadweep (95%). |
| High concentrations of Muslims are found in the eastern states of Assam (31%) and West Bengal (25%), and in the southern state of Kerala (25%) and Karnataka (12.2%). |
| The analysis on religious data, among the six major religious communities, shows that the decadal growth of the Muslims was the highest (36.0%) in the 2001 census. |
| This statistic suggested that while the growth rate for Hindus has fallen between 1991 and 2001 compared with 1981 and 1991, Muslims have actually grown faster in the last decade, this led Indian media and different parties raising an alarm at the growing number of Muslims and expressing concern about the demographic imbalance and overpopulation, which the Indian government is desperately trying to stop democratically. |
| A grave objection to this theory is the fact that the 1991 census did not include Jammu & Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state and strife-torn Assam, while the 2001 census does include Jammu & Kashmir. Adjusted for this, the Muslim growth rate plunges from 36 per cent to 29.3 per cent. |
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New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday ruled that Muslims will not be treated as a religious minority in the state any more.
The landmark judgement comes just ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in the state. Voting in the first round of elections will be held on Saturday.
"Muslims have ceased to be religious minority in Uttar Pradesh on considerations of materials on record includes various census reports including report of 1951 & 2001," the court stated.
The bench comprising SN Srivastava has directed the state of Uttar Pradesh "to treat any member of the Muslim community as equal to other non-minority religious community without discrimination in any respect in accordance with the law."
The judge gave the ruling after considering various criteria, including the population of Muslims as enumerated in the census reports of 1951 and 2001. According to the 2001 Census, Muslims are 18.5 per cent of UP's total population.
The order was passed in the Anjuman Madarsa Noorul Islam Dehra Kalan versus State of Uttar Pradesh case. The madrasa of Ghazipur district had challenged out of turn grant-in-aid to certain other minority institutions.
The court asked the UP government to treat all Muslim institutions applying for grant-in-aid at par with non-minority institutions without any discrimination.
The court said that UP government should treat members of the Muslim community as equal to those belonging to the non-minority communities without discrimination in accordance with the law.
Justice Srivastava also issued a notice to the Centre and the UP government to take appropriate steps to modify an October 23, 1993 notification issued by the Central government on the grant of minority status.
Allowing the writ petition challenging out-of-turn grant-in-aid to certain institutions, Justice Srivastava took note of the petitioners' allegations of corruption.
The judge directed the UP Chief Secretary to initiate an inquiry into the allegations and said that it should cover all the orders passed since 2003 recognising institutions for grant-in-aid.
"The inquiry will be conducted by an officer not below the rank of Principal Secretary and completed within three months of the presentation of a certified copy of this order," Justice Srivastava said.
The issue is likely to increase the polarisation of pro- and anti-minority votes.
The first impact of the judgement will most likely be felt on Saturday, when UP goes to polls in the first phase, specially in places like Agra which have high Muslim concentration. The campaigning for the first phase of polls ends today.
In the first glance, it looks like advantage Samajwadi Party, which essentially banks on the upper-caste Muslim votebank.
“I respect the HC verdict. But according to 1951 Census, percentage-wise Muslims were always one per cent less or more. I don’t know why HC has given this judgement," Congress leader Rasheed Alvi said.
Former prime minister and Jan Morcha leader VP Singh told CNN-IBN that both the Central and state governments should challenge the verdict.
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