BJP MLA Vikram Saini. (ANI)
The BJP MLA from Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar, Vikram Singh Saini, has said that the family planning ideal of “hum do, hamare do” should be applied to those who now follow the principle of “hum do, hamare 25”, and demanded that Hindus should be allowed to produce more children until a law is passed to control the country’s population.
Saini, who entered the Uttar Pradesh Assembly for the first time in the BJP wave of 2017, had been charged under the National Security Act, and had spent a year in jail in connection with the Muzaffarnagar riots, in which more than 60 people were killed in August-September 2013.
Saini spoke at a programme organised by an NGO, Rashtra Nirman Sanghatan (RNS), to promote family planning at Muzaffarnagar town’s Shiv crossing on Friday. The event was part of a “Bharat Bachao Maha Rath Yatra”, which has the slogan “Hum Do, Hamare Do, to Sabke Do”, and which started from Kashmir on February 18
to reach Muzaffarnagar on Friday.
Saini said he had asked his wife to keep producing children. In the video of the speech, which has gone viral on social media, the MLA is heard saying, “Saathiyon, abhiyaan to bahut badhiya hai. Hum do, hamare do, hum sabke do. Yeh pehle bhi naara chala tha, Hum Do, Hamare Do. Humne to maan liya. Hamare bahut se log to ek par hi atak gaye. Hum do, hamara ek. (Friends, the campaign is good. We have accepted it, and many among us have stopped at just one (child).)”
He goes on to say, “Aur kahin hum do, hamare 19; hum paanch hamare pachees. To yeh sabke liye hona chahiye. Yeh desh sabka hai. Agar desh sabka hai to kanoon sabke liye ho. Bhai, jab tak kanoon nahin banta… Hindu bhaiyon, aapko chhoot hai. Itne par ruko mat. Kanoon banega to sabke liye banega. (There are others who follow ‘We are two, we have 19’, ‘we are five, we have 25’. If the country belongs to every one, the law should also be enforced on everyone. Hindus brothers, you have the freedom… don’t stop until the law comes into existence… If there is a law, it will be for everyone.)”
The MLA said: “Jab mere do bachche paida ho gaye, gharwali kehne lagi bas teesra nahin… To maine kahaa, chaar-paanch honge, chinta nahin karo. To bhaiyon, yeh kanoon ho to sabke liye ho. (After two children, my wife said she did not want a third child… I said, don’t worry, we will have four-five. Brothers, if there is a law, it should be for everyone.)”
On Saturday, the 48-year-old MLA told The Sunday Express, “Doosri taraf maulana aur maulvi kehte hain aur (bachche paida) karo. Un logon ko yeh neeti chhodni padegi. Tabhi humne kaha tha kal ki kahin ‘Hum Do, Hamare 19; Hum Paanch, Hamare Pachees’ hote hain. (On the other side, Muslim clerics ask people to producing more children. They will have to stop this policy. That was the reason for what I said yesterday.)”
On urging Hindus to produce more children, Saini said, “I just said those lines in the flow. While giving speeches, we use some words without intention.
“I also have four children. I believe there should be a law for population control, and everyone should follow it.”
UP Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh distanced himself from Saini’s statement. “I am not aware of what exactly he has said, but whatever he has stated is the individual view of the MLA, and we don’t want to get into it,” he said.
In January, Saini had triggered a row by saying India is a country for Hindus. He had earlier threatened to break the limbs of “cow killers”, and said that those who refused to sing Vande Mataram should not be spared.
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