Almost two years after the protests against the farm laws brought the Ghazipur border in Ghaziabad into focus, traffic was thrown out of gear at this busy Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border by another bunch of protesters this weekend.
Gathered under the banner of the Jansankhya Samadhan Foundation, hundreds of protesters were demanding a law on population control. The foundation wanted to enter Delhi to submit more than a crore signatures to the Prime Minister’s Office in support of their demand but were stopped by the Delhi Police at the border.
The protesters then sat on a dharna beneath the flyover at the border for more than eight hours.
Though the leaders of the foundation maintained that the movement was not against any particular community, a look at the posters gave away that the motivation came from a perceived threat of rising Muslim population. The posters said the law was needed to save the country from the practice by several families to have eight children with the aim of controlling the resources of the nation.
Refusing to accept the government data on the decline in total fertility rate across communities, the protesters peddled anecdotal accounts. “The Bharatiya Janata Party is giving us Ram Temple but what is the use if it’s taken away from us in the next few years,” said Ramveer Gujrar, a farmer from west U.P., alleging a disproportionate increase in Muslim population. On caste census, he said it was meant to divide Hindus.
Shakti Singh, who hails from a village near Ghaziabad, claimed that Muslims were the biggest beneficiary of government schemes. “It is a myth that they are 18%-19% of the population. The real number is above 30%,” he claimed.
Vinay Chaudhary from Meerut questioned the idea of extending benefits of the Ayushman Card to a six-member household. “It is to benefit Muslim families. Already they are the biggest beneficiaries of the PM Awas Yojana,” he said.
The protesters said if the government didn’t start the process of bringing a population control law, they would consider the NOTA option in the Lok Sabha election next year. “We will picket BJP leaders when they come asking for votes,” Mr. Chaudhary added.
As the protest continued late into the evening, despite repeated requests from Uttar Pradesh Police the protesters refused to budge. Eventually, following orders received from Lucknow, police used water canons at night to clear the site.
Anil Chaudhary, president of the foundation, said, “India becoming the most populous country in the world is a record we don’t want. We request the government to clear the ambiguity about its intention of bringing an act to control this scourge.”
Describing the movement as apolitical, he said they had collected signatures of 123 parliamentarians from different political parties to press for their demand. “It is true that BJP leaders like Giriraj Singh have addressed our rallies, but it is not a party programme,” he added.
