The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday called for a nationwide debate on the definition and relevance of religious minority status in India. The organisation questioned whether followers of Islam and Christianity should continue to be classified as minorities and said that the current framework needed reconsideration in the interest of constitutional clarity and social fairness.

The issue was discussed during the VHP’s two-day Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal (KMM) meeting in Delhi, which brought together around 225 senior saints, seers, and VHP leaders from across the country. Addressing the media after the meeting, VHP International President Alok Kumar said that the Constitution granted special protections to minorities but did not define the term clearly.

He said, “The Constitution talks about religious minorities and provides certain rights, but it does not define who exactly is a minority. The National Commission for Minorities Act empowers the central government to notify minority communities, but there is no clear basis or uniform criteria for this.”

Kumar stressed that the time had come for a transparent national discussion on the matter. He added, “It should be examined whether there exists any religion whose followers have faced discrimination or persecution on the basis of religion. Only then should the question of minority status be addressed.”

During the meeting, leaders pointed to demographic data to support their call for a review. Referring to available estimates, Kumar noted that Muslims, who formed over 14% of the population in the 2011 Census, were now believed to represent 18–20% of India’s total population.

He said, “These numbers raise an important question: can communities with such significant population shares still be treated as minorities for official purposes?” He added that Christianity also had a sizeable presence in several states and that the classification of these communities needed to be revisited with a national perspective.

Kumar further emphasised that India’s secular character must guide these discussions. “India is a secular country. Our Constitution rejects discrimination on the basis of religion. Hence, the idea of minority status should be examined in this context,” he said.

Apart from the minority status debate, the VHP also expressed concern over recent political moves involving the judiciary. The organisation criticised a proposal in Parliament by parties including the DMK and Shiv Sena (UBT) seeking the impeachment of Justice G.R. Swaminathan of the Madras High Court. The VHP described the move as an attempt to unduly influence the judiciary. Kumar said the meeting condemned the proposal, stating that such actions could “create pressure on the judiciary and undermine the independence of courts.”

The meeting further discussed concerns regarding extremist activities. Referring to recent investigations into an explosion near the Red Fort, VHP leaders claimed that the incident showed that extremist tendencies stemmed from “rigid religious fanaticism” and not from economic deprivation.

Kumar said, “Recent incidents have shown that the roots of jihad are not tied to poverty but to a rigid and intolerant mindset. In a democratic and intellectually open society like ours, there should be no space for such extremist ideologies.”

He added that these tendencies must be met with strong “ideological, social, and legal resistance”. “The VHP said that the KMM meeting highlighted the need for a structured and honest national conversation about who should be considered a minority in India, and on what basis. The organisation argued that clear criteria were necessary to ensure fairness and constitutional consistency.

Kumar reiterated, “We are only asking for a debate. A transparent discussion will help clarify the concept of minorities and ensure that rights are granted on a principled and logical basis.”