India's minority Christian and Muslim populations should be forcibly sterilized to prevent them reproducing, according to a Hindu nationalist politician.
The vice-president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha party, Sadhvi Deva Thakur, was filmed saying that "the population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day". She called for the imposition of a state of emergency, saying: "Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilization so that they cannot increase their number."
She also exhorted Hindus to "have more children and increase their population", adding that "idols of Hindu gods and goddesses should be placed in mosques and churches".
Her comments raise the spectre of the Emergency declared under the regime of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975-77, during which her political opponents were imprisoned and a mass sterilization campaign aimed at controlling the growth in India's population was carried out. While many responded to incentives offered by the government, others were coerced. Keep reading
Should India or any of its constituent states adopt such a policy, it would be a gross violation of human rights and would merit the strongest international condemnation.Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain
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