After the Union government told the Supreme Court on March 28 that state governments can grant minority status to any religious or linguistic community, including Hindus, the question on the minds of many citizens is: Can Hindus really be considered minorities in certain states?The Union government’s direction came in response to a plea filed before the apex court by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Upadhyay seeking directions for framing guidelines for identifying minorities at the state level.Upadhyay’s plea is premised on the claim that in eight states/Union Territories in the country, – Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Lakshadweep – there number of non-Hindus are greater Hindus, despite Hindus being in a considerable majority (79.8% of the population, according to Census 2011) in the country as a whole.The Wire‘s Yaqut Ali analyses the Union government’s claims, as well as Upadhyay’s controversial background, to understand if this claim is, indeed, justified.