Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have come out in support of Union Minister Kiren Rijiju’s remarks on the alleged dwindling of the Hindu population in India, ANI reported on Tuesday. On Monday, the minister of state for home affairs claimed that Hindu population in the country was reducing because “Hindus never convert people”. “Minorities in India are flourishing unlike some countries around,” he had said.

Supporting the minister’s remarks, Swamy said India was a democracy with an elected government because Hindus were a majority in the country. “Minorities in India are flourishing unlike some countries around,” he said. Swamy said the 2001 and 2011 Census supported his claims, and said Rijiju’s remarks were taken out of context because he was talking about the “decline in population percentage of Hindus as a ratio of the total population”.

Meanwhile, RSS leader Rakesh Sinha praised the Union minister, saying it was his duty to bring up the matter of demographic imbalances in front of the nation. “This statement is a fact and a matter of concern,” Sinha said. “This demographic imbalance is taking place and this demographic imbalance is not merely a number game, but it also impacts social harmony and national integration,” he said.

Rijiju’s remarks had come in response to claims by the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee, which said that the culture and traditions of indigenous tribes in the state would be threatened under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule. It had also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of creating “political instability” in the state by trying to oust the elected Congress government in AP. Government figures show that the Hindu population continue to grow in India, although at a slower rate than other religious communities.