GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who completed his first month in office on Thursday, appealed to the state’s ‘immigrant Muslim’ population to adopt a “decent family planning” practice.
Sarma expressed his willingness to work with Muslim organizations to educate Muslim women on the necessity for population control to eradicate poverty and encroachment of land and ease the pressure on land.
“We want to work with the minority Muslim community to control the population explosion.
Social menaces like poverty and land encroachment have their roots in the population explosion.
We can solve several social problems if the immigrant Muslims can adopt decent family norms…this is my appeal to them,” he added.
He further said, “With increase in population, there will be problem of living space, which in turn will give rise to clashes.
It will be too much of expectation from a democratically elected government to allow people to settle on temple and forest land.” Sarma’s resolve to address the population boom among immigrant Muslims has come after several Muslim organizations and people’s representative have criticised the government for series of drives across the state in last few days to evict encroachers on temple and forest land.
The government has cleared 180 bighas of land belonging to a Naraksur (Mahabharata) period Shiv temple at Sipajhar from illegal settlers, 2005 bigha of forest land at Kaki Taralangso in Hojai district, Sootea and Karimganj in the last one week.
Barring a miniscule 2% of Assam’s Muslim population, the rest are immigrant Muslims from Bangladesh, who are Bengali-speaking.
The state’s Muslim population constitutes nearly 35% of the 3.13 corer population of the state and they are in majority in as many 35 of 126 assembly seats.
BJP fought the last assembly election on promises to protect land, culture and identity of the indigenous communities of Assam from them.
“No one is our enemy.
The government is the guardian of every poor man and we want their development.
But we need community support.
They (immigrant Mulsims) have to come forward.
Protests will not end their poverty.
To end their poverty, we have to educate Muslim women, work on population control… poverty will never be reduced unless they control their population,” Sarma said.
He referred to an unnamed assembly constituency where the number of voters have increased by over 25,000 in just five years.
“I understand the problem on other side.
The way population explosion is taking place, they also need living space.
Instead of criticizing the government, they should try to practice small family size.
Tribals practice it and have never encroached upon forest lands, rather they have conserved forests and built new ones,” he added.