Christian population of Goa declines to 25%, claims Governor Pillai

Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai on Sunday said the Christian population at Goa has come down while the Muslim population has gone up. Speaking at an event in a church here, Pillai, a senior BJP leader, said the Christian population in Goa had come down to 25 per cent from the earlier 36 per cent. "I spoke to a senior priest. I told him that the percentage of Catholic community members has come down to 25 per cent while the Islamic community members have gone up to 12 per cent from the earlier three per cent," he said. Pillai added that he had asked the community members to "conduct a positive study" in this regard. Later at another event, Pillai clarified that what he meant was "brain drain." "I have seen certain media houses creating controversy out of my statement. I was not talking about the demography or about any particular community," Pillai said. He said the number of Catholic members in Goa have come down over the years. "When the community leaders including the pries