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Indian minister advocates population control policy

Xinhua, April 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

An Indian minister has stoked a major controversy by advocating a two-child population policy and even proposing to revoke the voting rights of all those having more than two children.

"The nation won't progress without population control. There must be a balance. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians -- all must have at least one to two children. Those who don't follow, their voting rights must be revoked," Giriraj Singh, the Minister, told the media Thursday.

"A law is needed on population control for all religions if development is required. The people of the nation must express their thoughts and discuss it," added the country's junior Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister.

His statement came a day after he said that both the majority Hindus and minority Muslims should not be allowed to have more than two children. "Hindus should have two sons, Muslims, too, should have two sons. Our population is coming down," Singh told The Indian Express newspaper.

"Population rules have to be changed, only then will our daughters be safe. Otherwise, like Pakistan, we too will have to keep our daughters under the veil," he had said. Endit