Shiv Sena urges family planning to stop polygamy amongst Muslims

Calling the recently-released census figures, which show that the Muslim population has risen at a rate higher than that of Hindus, "explosive", the Shiv Sena urged Hindus to use their numbers to turn up pressure on the government to make family planning mandatory. This, the party said, will stop polygamy among Muslims.

An editorial on Thursday in Sena organ Saamna, which has party president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut as the executive editor, said there was no need for "inert Hindutvawadis" to cry themselves hoarse over these figures. It added that the Hindus, along with adherents of Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, still outnumbered Muslims.

"In population terms, this is still a Hindu rashtra and the poison of secularism has spread in this Hindu rashtra," the editorial charged, while opposing a caste-based census as this would hurt the unity and integrity of the country.

"At the national level, all must unite only as Hindus," the Sena said, adding that Muslim population was increasing due to polygamy and because "there was no compulsion of family planning on them". It called for Hindus to unite to pressure the government to stop this through legal means, urging that family planning would benefit Muslims also.

"The level of literacy and employment in Muslims must increase. For that, everyone must quit the politics of Muslim vote banks," the editorial said.