‘…Our population is expanding like the mouth of Sursa (mythical female demon). The perverse mindset out of which one person sires 10 children can not be allowed,’ Giriraj Singh fumed.
File image of Union Minister Giriraj Singh. ANI
Patna: Union minister Giriraj Singh on Monday compared the population of the country to the ever-expanding mouth of mythical female demon “Sursa”, in a fresh pitch for a stringent law to control it.
The BJP leader shared the video statement on Twitter on the occasion of World Population Day.
Singh rued that in the past three decades, India lost out to China in the pace of economic progress but surpassed its neighbour in the growth of population.
“We have limited resources. Our population is expanding like the mouth of Sursa. The perverse mindset (vikrit mansikta) out of which one person sires 10 children can not be allowed,” Singh fumed.
He said in China is giving birth to 10 children in one minute where as India is seeing over 30 kids born in the same time, adding that the need of the hour was a stringent law (‘kada kanoon’) for population control, “applicable across the country and to people of all religious affiliations”.
“The demand for such a law must be raised, from Parliament to the streets (‘sansad se sadak tak’),” said the BJP leader.
The declamation of Singh is in sharp contrast to the view held by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is the BJP’s largest ally at the national level.
Kumar has often disapproved of a legislative route for achieving population stabilisation and cited the state’s own experience where fertility rates have shown a decline corresponding to the rise in women’s education.
Moreover, political parties have often been of the view that the BJP raises the bogey of population explosion for dog-whistling against Muslims whom it accuses of trying to change the demographics by procreating more.
Interestingly, anxieties over “changed demography” has often led “fringe elements” to appeal to Hindus that they should produce more children.
With inputs from PTI
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.