Population control in Gujarat

Narendra Modi, the architect of a pogrom in which the Vishwa Hindu Parishad mobs killed around two thousand Muslim Indians in 2002, onec made a controversial statement saying that Muslims reproduce so as to turn five of them into twenty five, thus increasing their population. This is conventional wisdom an old cliche of the Hindu right that tries to scare you into believeing that Muslims are going to outnumber Hindus by the time an Indian lands on the moon. Modi later claimed, with intellectual honesty typical of the Hindu right, that he was quoted out of context, that he was merely talking of population control, with no reference to any community in particular. What those of us outside Gujarat didn’t get to know is that he backed up his claim with a ‘massive’ population control programme.

This is said to be Modi’s larger agenda of ‘development’ and ‘progress’ for the Gaurav of Five Crore Gujratis as a strategy to deflect attention from the pogrom and demands for justice, and to keep his voters happy who happily voted him with a huge majority as a reward for the pogrom. But the development strategy does is part of the communal agenda (A state run on the Hindutva agenda has higher GDP…’). In fact, the pogrom continues in ways we don’t usually get to hear about.

If you live in Gujarat, you can obtain a family planning kit from the ration shop free of cost. Amongst other things, it would have Narendra Modi’s photo on the condom packet. They call it “Modi condom” there. Avinash Kumar has sent me the first photograph above. How I’m dying to get a kit, but Avinash says it’s too heavy to be couriered from Ahemdabad to Delhi.

Related items: