A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed concern over population rise of a particular community, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said that the desired fertility rate would be achieved by 2026-2030 in UP, adding that it's the Muslims who are using most contraceptives.
"Are Muslims not natives of India? If we see the reality, natives are only tribals & Dravidian people. In UP, without any law, desired fertility rate would be achieved by 2026-2030," Owaisi said.
"Their own health minister said that no law is needed in the country for population control. It's Muslims who're using most contraceptives. Total fertility rate which was 2.6 in 2016 is now 2.3. Country's demographic dividend is best among all countries," he added.
Notably, the UP law commission had submitted a draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021 to the state's BJP government in the last few months of Adityanath's previous term in office.
The proposed legislation incentivised families following a two-child norm, and some critics suggested that it targeted the state's Muslim community. The government, however, rejected the charge.
Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, could cross the 25-crore population mark in the coming years.
He said when the state tries to bring down maternal and child deaths due to anaemia at par with the national level, it faces the problem of these death rates being high "in a particular community." Adityanath said population growth for a state or a country is a challenge if there aren't enough resources.
He said population control programmes must proceed successfully, "but a situation of population imbalance should also not happen".
