Christians silently converting people on large scale: Giriraj Singh

Union Minister Giriraj Singh claimed that Christians were "silently" converting maximum number of people on Tuesday, even as he batted for a law to control the country's population.

On being asked about his Cabinet colleague Kiren Rijiju's remarks about dwindling Hindu population, Singh that he completely agreed with him. "It is a fact that Hindu population is decreasing. In 1947, Hindus were almost 90% of population. But as per a latest media survey, we are only 72% at present," he said.

He along with BJP patriarch LK Advani was in Gandhinagar to attend the pre-wedding ceremony of Gujarat Women and Child Development Minister Nirmala Wadhwani's daughter.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had kicked up a controversy yesterday with his remarks that "population of Hindus in India is going down as they never convert people, while minorities are flourishing."

During his interaction with media, Singh blamed Christians for converting people "silently". "It is Christians who are doing maximum number of religious conversions in the country, that too silently," the Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) said.

He also sought cooperation from opposition parties to bring a law to curb population.

"At present, Indian population is almost 17.5 per cent of the entire world. If opposition parties extend their cooperation, a law can be brought to control the population, which is the need of the hour," Singh added.