Finance minister Nirmala Sitaram is in Washington DC and was speaking at Peterson institute for international economics where she addressed about Indian Muslims and about the perception that they are being subjected to violence.
She was asked a question which said whether perceptions in Europe and the United States, on reports in the Western press about opposition parliamentaries losing their status or Muslim minority being subjected to violence had affected capital flows and investments in India. To which she cleverly replied on facts and said that the Muslim population in India has grown since 1947 even as minorities of all kinds have been “decimated” in Pakistan.
She further said India has the second largest Muslim population in the world and they are growing rapidly each day. If we even hypothetically take that the perception is true and they are facing challenges just because they are muslim, would Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?”.
She reminded everyone with a contrast example of Pakistan where the minority which is mostly Hindu is declining rapidly as they are made to convert into Islam forcefully. She said “Every minority has seen a downtrend in its population or if I may use the word, which is harsher, decimated in Pakistan.”
