PM panel report on declining Hindu population: Political parties in Bengal describe it as ploy in midst of polls

Kolkata, May 9 (IANS) All the major political parties in West Bengal including the Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Congress have questioned the timing of the release of the report of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), revealing a declining Hindu population against a rising minority population from 1950 to 2015. 

They have described the EAC-PM report as nothing but a political ploy in the midst of the Lok Sabha elections.

According to the CPI(M) Politburo member and the party’s state Secretary Mohd Salim, the Union government “should come out with a proper Census to reveal the truth about population distribution, instead of coming out with such reports by some advisory council of the Prime Minister which operates as per the agenda of the ruling party in the country.”

“The Census that was to be done in 2021 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Had the Census been done, the real picture of population distribution would have been revealed. So, in my opinion this latest report of the EAC-PM being released in the midst of the polls was done with a political motive to serve the agenda of the RSS,” Salim said.

The Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha member Samirul Islam told IANS that from this report released in the midst of the polls it is evident how fear of defeat has gripped the BJP.

“Because of this fear the rank and file in BJP is playing all sorts of cards. This exercise started quite some time back and is continuing in the midst of the polls. But all such ploys will not work this time,” Islam said.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) member from West Bengal, Subhankar Sarkar said that it is better to describe the “Economic Advisory Council” as “encounter acknowledgement council”.

“I can speak in the context of West Bengal. As of the latest Census in 2011, the rise in the Hindu population in West Bengal was much more than that of Muslims. So how can they say that Hindus in India are in danger? The Economic Advisory Council should better concentrate on burning issues like the Hunger Index and unemployment among others,” Sarkar said.

--IANS

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