New Delhi: A PIL has been filed by BJP spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya in the apex court seeking a declaration of Hindus as Minorities in 8 states of the country based on the recent figures obtained from the Central Court.
Ashiwini Kumar submitted that the Centre had earlier issued a notification on 23.10.1993 categorizing Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis as ‘minority’ community. The other community Jains were also added to the list in 2014 leaving Hindus, though they are minorities in eight states.
According to statistics of 2011 Census he stated that Hindu Population in Lakshadweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75%), Nagaland (8.75%), Meghalaya (11.53%), J&K (28.44%), Arunachal Pradesh (29%), Manipur (31.39%) and Punjab (38.40%) is lesser than the other communities population.
He states that though they are minorities in these states their minority rights are not given to them since neither the Centre nor the State government has notified them as Minority. He says because of this Hindus are deprived of their basic rights which are guaranteed under the Articles 25 to 30 of the Constitution.
He added that Muslims are a majority in Lakshadweep with 96.20%, J&K with 68.30% and Assam has around 34.20%, West Bengal has 27.5%, with Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar having 26.60%, 19.30% and 18% respectively.
He says that these other communities are enjoying the ‘minority’ status while Hindus being minorities do not get their share because they are not yet identified or labeled as minorities by the Government he said.
He also said that Christians in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland are a majority in these states but are treated as minorities in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.