Muslims have now become 40 per cent of Assam’s population as per “statistical sampling”, The Indian Express quoted the chief minister as saying.

Sarma said, “In 2011, 1.4 crore Muslims were there in Assam. By 2041, Assam will become a Muslim-majority state. It’s a reality and nobody can stop it.”

The report says, according to the 2011 census, Assam had a total Muslim population of 1.07 crore, making up 34.22 per cent of the total 3.12 crore residents. There were 1.92 crore Hindus in the state, around 61.47 per cent of the total population.

He said, “In every 10 years, the Muslim population rises by 11 lakh in Assam… This is not Himanta Biswa Sarma’s data, but Indian census data. These are all published data.”

The population of the Hindu community is rising by around 16 per cent every 10 years, Sarma said.

“I cannot perform a miracle in just three years. If it gets delayed till 2051, we will believe we have done something,” he said.

He asserted that because of the rise of Muslim population, people from the community are visible in almost every sphere of life.

He maintained, “If you travel in app cabs in Guwahati, you will find that nine out of 10 are from one particular religion. You can go to Barpeta and Dhubri, and see the data.”