All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday used Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s example to dismiss yoga guru Ramdev’s suggestion of having punitive measures to control population growth.
Ramdev had on Sunday said that the third child in a family should not have voting rights.
“There is no law preventing people from saying downright unconstitutional things, but why do Ramdev’s ideas receive undue attention?” Owaisi tweeted. Mocking Ramdev’s yoga poses, he added: “That he can do a thing with his stomach or move about his legs shouldn’t mean @narendramodi lose his right to vote just because he’s the 3rd kid.”
Modi was the third of six children in his family.
At a press conference in Haridwar on Sunday, Ramdev had said: “India’s population should not be more than 150 crore in the next 50 years as we are not prepared or ready to bear more than that. This is only possible when the government makes a law that third child would not be allowed to vote, neither contest election nor he or she enjoys any type of privileges and facilities given by the government.”
In January, Ramdev had said the voting rights of those who have more than two children should be revoked. Fears about an exponential growth in the population of Muslims is often used by many Hindutva hardliners to stoke fears, but it is not supported by facts.
Owaisi’s latest comment comes after he had attacked Modi for his remark that minorities have been made to “live in an illusion of fear”. On Sunday, Owaisi had said that if Modi really cares about minorities, he should stop cow vigilantes from lynching Muslims.
Owaisi won the Hyderabad seat for the fourth consecutive term in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections.
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