Shashi Tharoor says population move 'communal', Jairam Ramesh posts Twitter thread

"It is no accident that the three states where the government is talking about reducing population are UP (Uttar Pradesh), Assam and Lakshadweep, where everyone knows who their intended audience is," Shashi Tharoor said.

Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh, two senior Congress leaders, on Saturday questioned the push for population control in some BJP-ruled states. Jairam Ramesh said according to the Economic Survey of 2018-19 under the PM Modi government, a growing population is not India's problem. In an interview to news agency PTI, Shashi Tharoor echoed the same thought and said the motive behind the population move is "purely political and communal.

Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh questioned the motive of the BJP government behind population control move.

Hinting at the large Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Lakshadweep, Tharoor said, "It is no accident that the three states where the government is talking about reducing population are UP (Uttar Pradesh), Assam and Lakshadweep, where everyone knows who their intended audience is."

Uttar Pradesh has unveiled a draft two-child policy in which people with more than two children will be deprived of government benefits. Assam too has mulled a similar population control move while several other states have this criterion for contesting local elections.

"The Hindutva elements in our polity have not really studied the demographic issues. Their motive is purely political and communal," Tharoor told PTI.

Jairam Ramesh posted a Twitter thread on the BJP government's population move and quoting from this government's Economic Survey, the Congress leader wrote, "By Modi Sarkar's own estimate in the Economic Survey 2018-19, some states in India will have to prepare for an ageing population by 2031, not growing population. This will be driven by existing policies to empower women, family planning programmes and socio-economic changes."

"I wonder how many in the BJP are aware of the basic facts that Modi Sarkar's own 2018-19 Economic Survey had presented in Parliament in July 2019," Jairam Ramesh tweeted.