Union minister Giriraj Singh on Wednesday said that if India did not change its population policy and enforce a two-child norm for all religions, “daughters will not be safe and might have to be kept under the veil, like in Pakistan,” according to The Indian Express report.
The minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises was speaking at a cultural yatra in Bagaha, West Champaran, and, according to the report, various Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers were present in the audience.
Hindu ka do beta ho aur Musalmaan ko bhi do hi beta hona chahiye. Hamaari aabadi ghat rahi hai. Bihar mein saat zila aisa hai jahan hamaari jansankhya ghat rahi hai. Jansankhya niyantran ke niyam ko badalna hoga, tabhi hamaari betiyaan surakshit rahengi. Nahi toh hamein bhi Pakistan ki tarah apni betiyon ko parde mein band karna hoga (Hindus should have two sons, Muslims, too, should have two sons. Our population is declining. Bihar has seven such districts where our population has gone down. Population rules have to be changed, only then will our daughters be safe. Otherwise, like in Pakistan, we too will have to keep our daughters in the veil.)Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
According to the report, he was referring to districts “such as Kishanganj and Araria, where Muslim population has been increasing at a faster pace than Hindu population”.
At a rally in Jharkhand in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Giriraj had said that those criticising Narendra Modi should be “sent to Pakistan”. In April last year, he was caught on camera saying that had Rajiv Gandhi married a “Nigerian” woman instead of the “fair-skinned” Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party would not have accepted her as its leader.
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