The Indian armed forces were totally secular and apolitical and there was no scope for controversy surrounding a Muslim headcount, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Seeking to put to at rest the raging debate on a survey of Muslims in the army, Mukherjee told newspersons, "There is no scope for controversy. The character of the Indian Army is not going to be changed."
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The Indian Army did not maintain any figure on the basis of caste, creed or religion and the survey by the committee was aimed at creating a database, he said.
"The Navy and the Air Force have already provided the data on the number of Muslims they have and we are taking up the survey in the Army, which had no such data till now," Mukherjee said.
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Mukherjee, who is here to chair a council meet of the Indian Statistical Institute, said the recruitment in the Army was not made on the basis of race, caste, creed and religion. "It is open. It will remain secular and apolitical."
The defence minister's statement followed the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's criticism of the government decision on survey of Muslims in the armed forces, which they feared would affect its secular character.
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