Kolkata, Jan 29 (TIWN) The talk from the "fringes of the ruling party" about the demographics of the Muslim population is just a way to 'demonise' a community, Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee said here, asserting that there is no real fear of Muslim takeover in India.

Minorities in both India and the US are “relatively economically and educationally” deprived, he said, alluding at least once in his speech to “the fringes of the ruling party (in India)”. Banerjee spoke about the “fear of the other” among a section of population that, he felt, might not be bigoted individually. “There is talk about… at least from the fringes of the ruling party about the demographics of the Muslim population. These are just ways to demonise a population,” he said. Noting that many of these narratives had no real basis, Banerjee said: “I don’t think there is any real fear that there will be a Muslim takeover in India.”