Yoga buff Ramdev, an avowed bachelor, has offered an ingenious solution that will help cap our burgeoning population. He has suggested that those who are (brave enough to marry) and give birth to more than two children, should be deprived of their voting rights. At the same time, he has hailed the fraternity of bachelors and feels they need to be showered with honours for not procreating.
‘‘Iss desh mein, joh humaari tarah vivah na kare, unka vishesh sammaan hona chahiye. Aur joh vivah kare, aur do se zyaada santaan paida kare, toh uski voting rights nahin honi chahiye,’’ he said, while addressing his followers at his ashram in Haridwar, on Sunday. (“Special honours should be reserved for those who, like me, do not marry. And those who marry and give birth to more than two children, they should have their voting rights snatched.’’
Addressing a gathering at Patanjali Yogpeeth, the 52- year-old said the Vedas allow one to have up to 10 children; so, only those who have the need and the potential should do it. But it is not the right thing to do anymore, more so since India’s population has crossed 125 crore now. Ramdev, who gave the world Patanjali Ayurveda, has always attributed his meteoric rise to bachelorhood.
“Na biwi na bacche phir bhi dekho kitne acche (There is no wife, no children, and see how comfortable we still are),” he was quoted as saying by a wire agency. But even though the Yogi never tied the sacred knot, he has a brilliant insight into the institution of marriage and has said that it is not easy to be a family man. “It’s tough. Marriage is not an easy thing, many are yet to get married, and several are done with it. And if you have a child, then you will have to bear with them for the entire life,” he was quoted as saying.
Ramdev has discussed the pitfalls of being a baby boomer, earlier too. “If I had children, they would have staked claim to my brand Patanjali… I feel God has saved me. I have made no mistake, or as had happened in the case of the later UP Chief Minister N D Tiwari, someone would come up (claiming to be my son)… You don’t require wife and kids to be happy. I am always smiling,” the yoga guru had said while addressing an audience at Goa Fest.