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New Delhi: Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal for population control did not have any communal colour to it, and those trying to give it one are “frustrated individuals”.

On 15 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech appealed to Indians to have “small families” in a show of patriotism. The day after, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana asked “fanatical Muslims” to pay heed to the statement.

Reacting to this, Naqvi told ThePrint, “People giving PM Modi’s appeal a communal colour are basically very frustrated individuals with a communal mindset.”

In an interview to ThePrint, the minister also countered the oft-peddled narrative that Muslims will soon overtake the Hindu population, calling all such remarks “extremely stupid and ignorant”.

He said there was no truth in such statements, and they have nothing to do with the prime minister’s remarks either.

“The people who say this should look at the Census records. In the last 20 years or so, the Muslim population growth rate has only decreased, not increased. There has been a 30 per cent decline in Muslim growth rate,” said Naqvi.

In his address to the nation from the Red Fort, Modi had said, “Population explosion has been occurring at an unrestrained pace. This population explosion is creating innumerable challenges for us and the coming generations.”

‘Can’t ignore population explosion’

In a reiteration of the Prime Minister’s statement, Naqvi called population control the need of the hour.

“Any country, especially a country with a growing economy on the path to becoming a developed nation, cannot ignore population explosion,” he said.

Responding to speculation that the Modi government may bring in a law to control population growth, Naqvi said if an awareness campaign or law is made to curtail the population explosion, “it will be uniformly applicable to everyone — across communities”.

In October last year, Union Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Giriraj Singh had courted controversy when he said one particular community “is responsible for increasing the population of the country and that is curbing the nation’s development”.

Also read: Indian liberals want to support everything Muslim, but that’s not the way to equal rights

In his interview to ThePrint, Naqvi also spoke about the triple talaq bill and Article 370 abrogation in Kashmir, people’s “trust” in the Modi government and education support for the minority community.

‘Reform, perform, transform’

Naqvi said those who have opposed the triple talaq Bill and the abrogation of Article 370 have no logical basis to their arguments.

“Some people have been opposing all the reforms the Modi government brought — from the triple talaq bill, to the abrogation of Article 370, to now PM Modi’s statements on population control. But the people of this country aren’t accepting any of their arguments,” he said.

The Modi government has enabled an atmosphere of trust in the country, said the minster. “This government is here to reform, to perform and to transform. The entire country trusts this,” he added.

Education for Muslim community

In the Union Budget 2018-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman increased the fund allocation for free and subsidised coaching for minority aspirants of the civil service examinations from Rs 8 crore to Rs 20 crore under the ‘Support for students clearing prelims conducted by UPSC, SSC, State Public Service Commissions etc’ scheme.

However, the grants for pre-Matric and post-Matric scholarships were reduced from Rs 1,296 crore last year to Rs 1,220 crore this year, and from Rs 500 crore to Rs 496 crore this year, respectively.

Speaking about this reduction in grants, Naqvi said, “…money or the lack of it will never come in the way of socio-economic empowerment of the minority communities.”

“Moreover, the overall budget of the (minority affairs) ministry has only increased, not decreased,” the minister added.

Last year, after 51 Muslim candidates cleared the civil services examination, the ministry announced that UPSC aspirants from the community will get free coaching at Haj Houses across the country. Naqvi said there has been substantial progress on this matter.

“The central Haj committee has successfully started free coaching for Muslim candidates. We have also told all the state Haj committees to utilise their spaces for the same,” said Naqvi.

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