Union rural development minister Giriraj Singh backed the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government’s population control policy launched on Sunday and batted for a similar legislation for Bihar to check exponential growth of population.
The new population policy aims to incentivise people to help in population control. It aims to reduce population growth rate to 2.1%, UP health minister Jai Pratap Singh said.
The UP government’s law commission has also prepared a population control bill, which promises perks and incentives to government employees and general public who follow population control measures. People who choose to have more than two children in UP will be made ineligible for government jobs and promotions, and excluded from receiving benefits of various schemes among other measures, according to the draft bill.
Leaders of Janata Dal (United), an ally of the BJP in Bihar, however, dismissed it as an electoral strategy to polarise votes in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the state polls and said it should be rejected. The JDU’s contention also drew the support of Congress, which said that a political consensus is required before enforcing any such policy.
Singh, while talking to media persons on his arrival in Begusarai on Sunday, said overpopulation is a major obstacle in development and social harmony. “Every state shall attach the issue of population with elections like the one Uttar Pradesh is doing,” said the Union minister, who earlier in 2019 favoured disenfranchising those having more than two kids.
BJP MLA from Bisfi Haribhushan Thakur also strongly demanded enactment of a strong population policy. He said, “A conspiracy is underway to turn India into an Islamic nation. The Bihar government needs to enact a stronger population policy to foil the design by certain elements.”
On the other hand, senior JD(U) leaders, including Ghulam Gaus, said the BJP was resorting to “vote politics” to divide votes on communal lines. “They (BJP leaders) have done it to polarize votes,” said Gaus.
Former minister Jai Kumar Singh said such a move had the potential to jeopardize social balance in the country. “Bihar government is trying to check population by educating the people,” said the JD(U) leader.
Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra, while dismissing the population policy as an election ploy, said that an all-party meeting should be held to bring about consensus on the issue. “The Congress also tried to check population by resorting to “hum do, hamare do” policy, which backfired. Our party is also in favour of containing population growth, but not by force,” said Mishra.
The RJD too reacted sharply to the BJP’s design to deprive benefits to those having more than two children. RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said, “A particular religion was being targeted through the policy.”
