Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday issued a showcause notice to BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj for his controversial comments on population control.
The election body sought a reply from the MP by 11 Jan.
The move comes after the Sakshi Maharaj on Saturday blamed Muslims for a sharp rise in population in the country when he said that Hindus are clearly not responsible for it and added, “Population is increased by those who support the concept of four wives and 40 children.”
Leaving no doubt that he was speaking against the Muslim community, Maharaj also spoke against the practice of triple talaq and asked the government to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as soon as possible.
Sakshi also said that the country was being divided because Hindus were not having enough children. “Hindu ghataa aur desh bataa,” he said. “Whether Hindu or Muslim, mothers are not machines,” he added.
Asked about the comments, BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “I haven’t seen his statement, but we believe in taking everyone along. The country runs on law, on Constitution, it does not run with a stick. Such statements or views are not of either BJP or government. We have nothing to do with such statements.”
However, Maharaj refuted the allegation. “I had said that the population of India is approx 132 crore. India’s landmass is not increasing but our population keeps on increasing. We need to control this menace. We should respect women and I had said that she is not a machine, that is why four wives, 40 kids and triple talaq are no longer tolerable. We need to take a decision whether we should have one, two, three or four kids. But we need to take a decision on this,” he said.
