Opposition AIUDF slams Assam CM over his population control remarks

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday appealed to minority Muslim people of the state to adopt a decent family planning policy for population control.

He said population is the main root of every social menace and if we control it then social menace will be automatically reduced.

The Assam Chief Minister said the population policy is already in place and it will be effective soon like government jobs and enacted the population policy in last assembly, but the government want to work for the minority Muslim community to reduce population burden.

“We want to work more for the minority Muslim community to reduce population burden. We want to work together with them so that population in the state should be controlled. Population is the main root of social menace like poverty, land encroachment and we can reduce this social menace if population will reduce,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Reacting over the Assam Chief Minister’s remark, AIUDF MLA and party’s General Secretary Aminul Islam said that, targeting to a single community is only political motivation and it is the nature of BJP to target a single community.

“What Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, it has clearly shown that he has targeted a single community, he targeted the Muslim immigrating people. The Muslim migrating people didn’t oppose the population policy adopted by the Assam government and while it has implemented in panchayat election also. Everyone wants that there should be birth control. But Himanta Biswa Sarma’s statement is totally political motivation statement. The main causes of population rise are illiteracy, poverty, lack of education, lack of social awareness. If the people will get proper education then it will be controlled automatically,” Aminul Islam said.

The AIUDF MLA further said that, the government should to do work on education, make aware the illiterate people.

“Himanta Biswa Sarma also knows that SC, ST, Tea tribes population in the state is much higher than the Muslim population. If we look at the other states like Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, the fertility rate, population growth rate in these states is higher than Assam. There is no Muslim immigration in these states, then why population growth rate is higher in these states,” the AIUDF MLA said.

He further said Muslim immigration is not only the cause of population growth in the state, it only depends upon literacy, education.

“My grandfather was illiterate and he had eight children and my father was a school teacher and he had four children. I am higher educated and I have two children. If you give proper education and bring out the people from poverty line and will make aware then population growth will be controlled automatically. The Chief Minister should have to take these challenges. It’s not okay to blame someone. Being a Chief Minister he has to take all responsibilities among the all communities,” Aminul Islam said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)