'Wrong information': JDU flays Bihar BJP chief over population growth rate figures

PATNA: The JD(U) lashed out at Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal for coming up with "misleading" data on population growth rate in two districts of the state, alleging that he was trying to incite communal hatred among people.

Jaiswal had on Wednesday claimed that the population growth rate in Kishanganj and Araria districts was the "highest in the world", partly due to the alleged high rate of influx of "Bangladeshi infiltrators".

"All BJP leaders, including Jaiswal, are engaged in inciting communal hatred among people in the state to derive political mileage. They (BJP) are doing this as Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Bihar on September 24," JD(U) leaders Neeraj Kumar and Arvind Nishad said in a statement on Friday.

"Jaiswal is giving wrong and misleading information. The population growth rate in several other districts in India is much higher than Araria and Kishanganj," they claimed.

According to the 2011 census, Kishanganj has a 67 per cent Muslim population, the highest in any Bihar district, followed by adjoining Araria, where the figure is 43 per cent.

Jaiswal had made the remarks in Araria, where he was galvanising support for Shah's rally at nearby Purnea later this month.