KOCHI: Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai has said the Christian population in Goa has come down while the Muslim population has gone up.

Speaking at an event in a church here on Sunday, Pillai, a former BJP state president of Kerala, 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 priests visited me, I referred to certain news articles in connection with the same. I asked them to study it. I feel like it is mainly due to the brain drain," Pillai clarified at another event.