VHP demands law to address 'demographic imbalance', want more children from Hindus

Mumbai: In the backdrop of projections that India will have the largest number of Muslims by 2050, Vishwa Hindu Parishad today demanded a uniform law to rectify the "demographic imbalance" in the country and asked Hindus to have as many children as Muslims.

Addressing a press conference, Joint General Secretary of VHP Surendra Jain also warned that the country would otherwise become like Kashmir, Pakistan or Afghanistan, where Muslims are in majority.

Jain's remarks came a day after VHP's international secretary general Champat Rai said that Hindus should have more than one children to ensure that there was "no imbalance" in India's demographic profile.

"I am surprised why the secularists are raising a storm over it. Whether Champat Rai has said this or not is not at all important. Anybody saying so is not wrong, what is being said does not need any attribution. Everybody in the country is concerned about the demographic balance. The entire world agrees with this statement

"There are only two ways to remove the demographic imbalance. Either the Hindus should increase their population or there should be a uniform civil code on it. The country is being misled in the name of secularism. If anybody is seeing communalism in it, he himself is the most communal. This is the most secular demand. I want to ask the secularists whether they want to make the whole of India Kashmir, Pakistan or Afghanistan," Jain said replying to a volley of questions on the issue.

The VHP's comments come close on the heels of the findings in an international study by Pew Research Center, which said that India will surpass Indonesia to have the largest Muslim population in any country of the world by 2050.

Jain also made it clear that the Ram temple is very much on the agenda and urged the government to remove obstacles in the way of its construction, warning "otherwise the patience of Hindus may break due to unnecessary delay".