Christian population on the rise in two NE states

NEW DELHI: Christian population in Arunachal Pradesh rose from less than 1% in 1971 to more than 30% in 2011, official census data show, numbers which appear to back Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s comments about a radical demographic change in the northeastern state.

Manipur, another state in the region, also saw Christian population rise from 19% in 1961 to more than 41% in 2011, census data showed.

Rijiju had sparked a controversy after referring to the growing Christian numbers in Arunachal Pradesh — his home state — and linking them to conversions. “Hindu population is reducing in India because Hindus never convert people,” he had said. However, there is no clear official reason for the rise in the Christian population in these states. While Rijiju cited religious conversion as a possible reason, some experts say this could be because of migration. Opposition had slammed Rijiju’s remark with Congress accusing BJP of “converting Arunachal into a Hindu state”.

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

In Arunachal Pradesh, the biggest state in the region, the share of ‘Other Religions’ category which comprised two-thirds of Arunachalis in 1971 dropped to 26% in 2011 from as much as 64% in four decades ago. The decadal growth rate of Christian population in the state has been more than 100% all through.

MANIPUR

In Manipur, with a population of 2.8 million, the Christian numbers have surged. Hindus constituted 62% of the Manipur’s population in 1961 while Christians had a 19% share. In 2011, both Christians and Hindus had almost equal share — 41%. For the RSS, these findings buttress their claims of the so-called shrinking of Hindu population.

“As the census figures show, there is a disparity in the way the Christian population has grown and Hindu population has shrunk. There is no denying the role of missionaries in this. But there is an awakening among the people and the Sangh is only making them aware of this (conversions),” Arunachal state secretary of RSS Nido Sakter said.

However, Amitabh Kundu, professor at Institute for Human Development, said , “One needs to take a closer look at migration figures and check how much of this increase can be attributed to in-migration of Christians from other states ...”.