AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday jumped into the ongoing political slugfest that was triggered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about Muslims, and claims of “wealth redistribution… to those who have the most children… to infiltrators”.
At a rally in Hyderabad on Sunday, Owaisi hit back at the Prime Minister’s “those who have the most children” remark by declaring “Muslims use condoms most” and took a jibe at the ruling party’s ‘Modi ki guarantee’ tagline, saying, “(the PM) has only one guarantee… hate Dalits and Muslims.”
“Why are you creating fear that Muslims produce more children? According to data from the Modi government, the population growth and fertility among Muslims has decreased. Muslims use condoms most, and I have no shame in saying this…” Owaisi said coming down heavily on PM Modi.
“Narendra Modi is instilling fear among Hindus that Muslims will become the majority community. How long will you create fear about the Muslims?” Owaisi asked.
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Owaisi further accused PM Modi of instilling fear and alleged he “has been spreading Muslim-Dalit hate since 2002”.
“Every newspaper writes Modi Ki Guarantee. There is only one Modi Ki Guarantee, which is the hatred towards Dalits and Muslims. How long will you continue spreading this hate? Our faith and religion are different, but we are also citizens of this country,” Owaisi said.
Last week, while addressing a rally in Rajasthan, PM Modi alleged that the Congress would redistribute the country’s wealth, if voted to power, to “those who have more children.” Referring to plans in the Congress’ manifesto for an “economic and institutional report” as part of the national caste survey, and combining that with a remark by his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh, the PM said, “Congress says they will calculate gold with mothers and sisters… and distribute that property…. Manmohan Singh’s government said Muslims have first right on all resources…”
“… to whom will this be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children. It will be distributed to infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators?” he said.
This remark led to a massive row. Following this, the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the Prime Minister and a notice was issued to the BJP.
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The AIMIM chief further attacked PM Modi for referring to Muslims as “infiltrators”.
“I was watching him on TV. People were showing his speech to me. I asked them, why are you surprised, this is the real face of Modi. He was just cheating all by saying Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas,” Owaisi charged.
Fact check on fertility rate
PM Modi recently made a series of controversial statements in Rajasthan at a public rally. He referred to Muslims in India as “those who have a large number of children” and claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said (in 2006) “Muslims had the first claim on the country’s resources”.
His remarks triggered a massive political firestorm .
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However, a fact-check using government data showed that the gap between the fertility rate of Muslims and that of other religions is narrowing.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, the fertility rate of Muslims along with the fertility rates of all other religious groups have been drastically declining over the years.
Also, according to the 2019-21 data, the gap between the fertility levels of Hindu and Muslim women (B-A in table) has seen a sharp drop from 0.81 to 0.42 in the two decades.