A ruling BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh has stirred a controversy after announcing a Rs 1 lakh prize for young Brahmin couples willing to have four children. Pandit Vishnu Rajoria, the head of Parshuram Kalyan Board and an incumbent chairman with a rank equivalent to a cabinet minister, announced the reward in Indore last Saturday. Rajoria has argued that increasing “heretics” in the country had posed a dire need for focus on family building.
Rajoria pressed the gathering with responsibility to future generations by insisting, “You youngsters often get into a settled mentality after having one child. This is too problematic. Go for at least four children, which I could call a complete family.” He was very sure that younger Indians could overcome all the ills of fewer, smaller families and reverse this family-size shrinkage.
The Parshuram Board’s move, Rajoria said, was in reaction to what he saw as a challenge to the cultural identity of the community. He assured the gathering that he would pay the promised grant to the eligible couples, whatever his position be. On education, he said, “Manage somehow, but don’t lag in giving birth to children. Otherwise heretics will capture this country.”
Rajoria made it clear this announcement was not any official government decision but was an offshoot of his personal conviction. “This is my social statement-made in a community program,” he explained, underlining the fact that Brahmin community can keep their commitments for education and training for the children.
His comments, however, have drawn the ire of many. Congress leader Mukesh Nayak called on Rajoria to retract his comments, pointing out that population growth burdens many countries of the world. “Fewer children can make education easier to handle,” Nayak said, countering the claim that a growing Muslim population puts Hindus at risk. He called for unity among communities in order to strengthen the nation.
The BJP has disassociated itself from Mr. Rajoria’s statement, saying, “The BJP government does just as the Constitution says. He held the particular view, while the government said a policy over family planning belonged to the privacy of the parents in a family to take a final decision by themselves.
