Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor called the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) population control policy "utterly misplaced" and out of date on Saturday (July 17) alleging that the BJP's motive of raising the issue is purely political and aimed at targeting a "particular community".
In an interview with a news agency, Tharoor said the bigger challenge for India in the next 20 years will be to prepare for an ageing population, not a growing population. "It is no accident that the three states where the government is talking about reducing population are UP (Uttar Pradesh), Assam and Lakshadweep, where everyone knows who their intended audience is," the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP said.
Tharoor also claimed that the Hindutva elements behind this bill have not studied the demographic issue carefully and that their motive behind this is political and communal.
This comes after Uttar Pradesh's draft population control bill was made public and the Assam government proposed formulation of a similar policy in this regard. Both states are ruled by the BJP. The population control bill has provisions to debar people who have more than two children from enjoying the benefits of government schemes and proposes certain perks to those who follow the two-child policy.
Also, some BJP MPs are set to introduce a private members' bill on population control and uniform civil code in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, according to information from the secretariats of both Houses.
The Monsoon session begins on July 19 and would conclude on August 13.