Population remark row: Asaduddin Owaisi slams Yogi Adityanath, says 'Most contraceptives are being USED by...'

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has now said Muslims were the ones using most contraceptives. This comment comes a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s ‘population imbalance’ remark. "Their own health minister said that no law is needed in the country for population control. It's Muslims who're using most contraceptives. Total fertility rate which was 2.6 in 2016 is now 2.3. Country's demographic dividend is best among all countries," Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM leader was quoted by ANI as saying.

Yogi Adityanath on Monday had said "population stabilisation" should be uniform across different sections of people, and expressed concern over the likelihood of "anarchy" at some point if there are "imbalances" in a country. "It should not happen that the speed of population growth or the percentage of some community is high and we stabilise the population of the 'moolniwasi' (natives) through awareness or enforcement," he said.

Owiasi also asked if Muslims not natives of India. "Are Muslims not natives of India? If we see the reality, natives are only tribals & Dravidian people. In UP, without any law, desired fertility rate would be achieved by 2026-2030," ANI quoted Owaisi.

Yogi's comment on World Population Day has attracted a lot of controversies. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said anarchy is not caused by population but due to the destruction of democratic values. In a Hindi tweet, Yadav said, "Anarchy does not arise from population, but from the destruction of democratic values."

Another Samajwadi Party leader and Sambhal MP, Shafiqur Rehman Barq, too accused the Uttar Pradesh government of seeing the population growth from a "particular angle", which is being done to get votes in the 2024 General Election. He told reporters on Monday night that the rapid growth in population can be effectively dealt with by paying attention to education for everyone instead of contemplating a law to check it. Giving birth to a child is up to the almighty, he said. When a child is given by Allah, the risks attached with him are also sent by the almighty, the MP added.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has advised people to change their mindset by tweeting on this matter. He has written by tweeting that, "the big population explosion is not a danger for any religion, it is a danger for the country, it is not fair to associate it with caste and religion." 

The UP law commission had earlier submitted a draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021 to the state's BJP government in the last few months of Adityanath's previous term in office. The proposed legislation incentivised families following a two-child norm, and some critics suggested that it targeted the state's Muslim community. The government, however, rejected the charge.

(With Agency inputs)