Adopt ‘decent family planning’: Assam CM to Muslims
GUWAHATI : CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has urged Muslims in the state to adopt “decent family planning” norms to bring down poverty. “The root cause of issues like poverty, land encroachment, etc lies in uncontrolled population growth... we can put an end to lot of social problems if the community adopts decent family planning norms,” he said.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday asked the Muslim community in the state to adopt “decent family planning” norms to bring down poverty and “control social problems”, sparking a controversy as Opposition leaders condemned his remark.
Sarma said the state government will take steps to encourage population control.
“We want to work with the minority Muslim community to control population. The root cause of issues like poverty, land encroachment etc. lies in uncontrolled population growth. I think we can put an end to lot of social problems in Assam if the Muslim community adopts decent family planning norms,” Sarma told reporters.
Addressing a press conference to mark the completion of the first month of his government, Sarma appealed to organisations like the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) and opposition party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) to focus on population control initiatives.
“Assam government is going to take few more steps which should encourage population control. I want to work with AAMSU and AIUDF on this. There should new thought on this. No community or section is our enemy, and we want development of everyone,” he said.
“We want community support to spread education among Muslim women and birth control initiatives. Poverty won’t get reduced unless you control your population. I hope the community will respect the government’s stand...,” Sarma added.
The AIUDF termed the CM’s statement as a political one targeting of one community. “It is not proper for the CM to target one community over this issue as we have seen that spurt in population is also seen among scheduled caste (SC) communities and tribals. We also want population to be controlled, but the government should focus on issues like illiteracy, poverty etc. that are the prime factors for uncontrolled population growth,” said Md Aminul Islam, Mankachar MLA and organising secretary of the AIUDF.