LUCKNOW: Known for his loose and brazen remarks, Surendra Singh, the BJP MLA from Bairia in Ballia district is not ready to mend ways. He has embarrassed his party once again on Wednesday by saying that if Hindutva has to be kept alive and nation has to be made strong, each Hindu should have at least five children. He claimed that bringing a child on this earth is a God's gift (Prasad) which should not be refused or rejected.
The controversial observation form the BJP MLA has come at a time when the government is taking a number of steps for population control in consonance of National Population Policy-2000. "Hindu bahiyon ko chahiye ki agar Bharat ko majboot banana hai to apni sankhya ko majboot karein.Bharat majboot tabhi hoga , jab hindu majboot hoga ( If Hindus want the country to be strong, they will have to make their number strong. India will be strong only if Hindu will be strong)," said the MLA while talking to media persons.
Singh had been in the eye of storm a few days back when, while reacting to rising rape cases, he had claimed that it was a menace beyond the control of law enforcement agencies. "Bahgwan Ram bhi inn badhti hui ghatnaon ko nahi rok sakte (even Lord Ram would not have been able to stop rising incidents of rape)," he had said. This time, the MLA was trying to establish the point that to protect Hindutva, Hindus would have to increase their population.
"Hindu religious leaders and mahants want every Hindu couple to have at least five children to protect the religion," he said. "Hindus should have at least five children. Two for the man, two for the woman and one surplus. India can become strong, when Hindus are strong. When Hindu is weak, India is weak...," Mr Singh maintained. He felt that if Hindu population would not increase, the community would soon reduced to a minority in its own country. "There should be a balance of population. Hindus will be a minority if their population doesn't increase. It will not be due to terrorists but due to their own acts," he said.
Earlier, the BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh's Ballia had triggered a controversy by saying that "Those who don't say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' are Pakistanis". He had also hogged the limelight by claiming that 'prostitutes were better than government officials' while referring to corruption allegedly prevalent at different levels of administration and bureaucracy.