Patna, Sep 7 (PTI) Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal Wednesday stirred the hornets’ nest by claiming that population growth rate is the “highest in the world” in two districts of the state partly due to the alleged high rate of influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Jaiswal identified Kishanganj and Araria as the two districts where, he said, the rate of population growth was matched only by “tribal areas of Pakistan and parts of Ethiopia”.
According to the 2011 census, Kishanganj has a 67 per cent Muslim population, the highest in any Bihar district, followed by adjoining Araria where the figure is 43 per cent.
The BJP leader had made the remarks in Araria, where he was galvanizing support for Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally at nearby Purnea later this month.
Later when approached here by journalists, Jaiswal said “I had stated a fact which has nothing to do with the union home minister’s tour on September 23-24”.
Shah’s proposed visit to Bihar will be his first since Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s volte face stripped BJP of power. Kumar’s JD(U) has been apprehensive that the tour will be capitalized for communal polarisation.
Jaiswal, however, maintained that he was insisting on the need for “population stabilization” which, he said, has been achieved in West Bengal.
The BJP leader avoided the hardline stance of blaming high population growth on alleged aversion of Muslims towards family planning. He, however, went on to add “one reason behind the high population growth in Araria and Kishanganj is the influx of Bangladeshi immigrants – a fact people are not willing to acknowledge”.
He also did not demand a law to curb population growth, like party colleagues like Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, but said there was need to “incentivise those who produce less children”. PTI NAC KK KK KK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.