Sakshi Maharaj controversial remarks blamed Muslims for India's population boom

Speaking at the event in Meerut on Friday, the controversial leader called for implementing the Uniform Civil Code and indirectly held Muslims responsible for population explosion.

"Population is rising rapidly, and so are the country's problems. But Hindus are not responsible for this. Those who talk about four wives and forty children are responsible," Sakshi Maharaj said in his address which was telecast by the media and widely shared on social media.

"Remember, if Hindus number decreases, the country will be divided," said the MP, days after the Supreme Court declared that appealing for votes in the name of religion was "illegal".

"I said four wives and forty children will not be allowed, cannot be



allowed. Mothers are not machines," he said, calling for equal laws for all irrespective of number of children a person has.

While the opposition Congress and the state's ruling Samajwadi Party expressed strong reservation over the remarks and termed it a violation of the election Model Code of Conduct, the BJP distanced itself.

"This shouldn't be seen as the BJP's stand," Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here when asked by the media to react to the controversial remarks.

Calling the remarks offensive and a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, Congress leader K. C. Mittal said the party was approaching the Election Commission of India to seek action against Sakshi Maharaj.