ByDr.
Mohammad Aleem
Recently,
in a public function in Moradabad (UP), RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that we
should now focus on the two child policy in the country. It should be given a
constitutional status. It is necessary to control the population to make our
country grow economically, socially and culturally. He also said that there
should be a law formulated to implement this ambitious plan throughout the
country.
The chief
editor of the Urdu daily, Inquilab, Shakil Shamsi has written his opinion
article on the same theme, titled, dated
19th January 2020,“Two Child Policy and the RSS”.
He writes: “When
the country is passing through a turbulent time due to the contentious CAA, NPR
and proposed NRC, then, this issue, which has been raised by the RSS will only
create a new problem. And many people are asking this simple question that
whether this law will be applied to all religious communities or will it be
specific to the Muslims only? This question comes into mind because there are
scores of the Hindu extremist Sadhus and Yogis who say that the population of
India is rising only due to the Muslims only.”
But it is a
fact that the data says just opposite and put the reality in completely another
perspective. According to the 2011 census, during the last 10 years, both Hindu
and Muslim population has seen considerable decline. The growth of the Muslim
population is at present 24.6%, which was earlier 29.5%, and the growth of the
Hindu population is at present 16.7%, which was earlier 19.92%.
Shakil
Shamsi also has scathingly criticized this malicious propaganda that the trend
among Muslims is having many wives, but the reality is just the opposite. He
writes: “They (the
hardcore right wing people) always indulge in such malicious propaganda that
every Muslim marries four women and produces as many children as they can. But
when we say that please help me in identifying such men who have four wives and
many dozen children, they run away. The fact is that the population of the
Muslim women is less than the Muslim men in the Indian society. Then, from
where on earth, these men will get as many wives of their choices?”
In the
recent days, we have also heard many times from many Hindu chauvinist Sanyasis
and Gurus that every Hindu should bear at least 10 children. If it happens,
then, the how the problem of rising population will be controlled?
Shakil
Shamsi put his views over it in this way: “We have no right to criticize any
such law which comes for the purpose of controlling the population, but it
should be brought within the secular character of this country. It was Sanjay
Gandhi who had first adopted the tough policy of family planning in 1975. In
the whole country, forced sterilization of men was applied in such places as
schools, Dharmshalas, hospitals and even in the government offices. When in
1977, Indira Gandhi was ousted from the Prime Minister post, it was being said
that the forced policy of the family planning of the government was the main
reason for the Congress Party’s decline. And the fiercest opposition had come
from the Hindus mainly.”
The fear is
that a group of the rightwing people, who always look for any opportunity to
extract some blood from the Muslim’s muscles, will demand for implementation of
this law only for the Muslims as it has been adopted in the case of the
Citizenship Amendment Act. And if it happens, it will cause to create another
mass unrest in the country.
Shakil
Shamshi concludes his article with these scathing remarks: “The BJP plays a
dual policy when it comes to practice the bigamy. For example, when the film
star Dharmendra marries a second time with another film star, Hema Malini,
despite of having two wives at the same time, the BJP makes him a candidate for
the parliamentary election from Bikaner and it also gives an opportunity to his
second wife, Hema Malini to secure a seat of the MP from another constituency.
If the BJP keeps rewarding such persons who have two wives, then, will this
family planning movement ever succeed?
In fact,
the rising population is the result of the many socio-economic factors. And
before formulating and implementing any such law, it should be taken into
account seriously. It has been said that those people, either men or women, who
are well educated and economically, socially and culturally well-off, they
prefer smaller families. And this trend is prevalent among all the religious
communities of India.
So, the
Government should focus mainly on educating people and making them economically
sound rather than bringing a tough law for it, then, this problem will
automatically get solved without inviting any public wrath and resentment.