"Perverse Mindset": Union Minister's Fresh Population Control Pitch

Union minister Giriraj Singh today made a fresh pitch for a stringent law to control the population of the country, which he compared to the ever-expanding mouth of the mythical female demon "Sursa".

The firebrand BJP leader came out with a video statement on the occasion of World Population Day and shared it on Twitter.

Mr Singh, who represents the Begusarai Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, 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," Mr Singh fumed.

He added 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 Mr 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.

Mr 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. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)