Mass awareness through education and campaign is the proven way for population control. The Chief Minister of the NDA government in Bihar himself has come forward with such a proposal. Expressing his difference with UP model legislation Nitish Kumar underlines the need to educate girls so that they could convince the family. Instead of adapting a reasonable policy, the Adityanath government intends to deny basic rights for those who have more than two children. They will be prevented from applying for government jobs and acquiring rightful promotion in service. Benefits of social welfare measures are also set to be denied to them. Their right to contest elections are threatened. When the bill talks about ' certain sessions of people' and 'certain areas', the real purpose of the bill is unmasked.

Muslims are once again targeted by this bill as the root cause of population growth. As part of their political campaign the Sangh Parivar was spearheading this anti-Muslim propaganda. The demographic transformation statistics prove that this special propaganda stands far from truth. In fact, the Muslim adoption of family planning measures is far higher than that of the Hindus, in the last three decades. Due to this, the fertility differential, which was never more than one child, has come down to 0.48. The strategists behind the bill purposefully kept their eyes shut to these facts. They aim at the forthcoming elections and try to fan up Islamophobia aiming at majority votes. Hatred and clashes as it happened in Muzaffarpur are hidden behind the bill.

The aggressive Hindutva ideology has always tried to depict the Muslims as the hindrance to the country's progress. Through every possible means they attempt to divide the society spitting the anti-Muslim venom. The recent happenings in Assam and Lakshadweep also elaborate the same politics of the Hindutva forces with their anti-Islam tirade. This can only be expected from RSS controlled regimes with their fascist ideology of racial supremacy. In ‘Bunch of Thoughts’, Golwalkar had termed Muslims as the shatru (enemy).

The ideological proximity between Hitler's Aryan supremacy and BJP's Hindutva philosophy is astonishing. Hitler's henchmen strived hard to 'improve' the human race by limiting the reproduction of people belonging to those so called ‘inferior races’. When they came to power, the Nazi state in 1933 was eager to protect 'racial purity'. The measure they adopted was to prohibit the birth of undesirable children. History remembers that dreadful holocaust as the aftermath of such birth control actions. Reading of history urges India to look deep into the policy statements and legislative exercises of the RSS led government.

The developmental crisis that has engulfed India is a systemic one. Its roots lie not in population but in poverty. The political economy that guides the ruling class is wedded to the greed of the super-rich. Wellbeing and welfare of the masses was never in their agenda. The people became poorer and ill-informed because of the social reality. Level of literacy, social awareness and population growth are all intertwined. If the people are educated and empowered, their level of understanding and awareness will be developed. That would automatically lead to birth control without any coercive measures. The experience from states like Kerala should be taken into account in this regard.

The protagonists of profits and their failed policies deviate themselves from the real issues of life. They are always in search of issues to hide their policy paralysis. Right extremists have become champions of this evasive and escapist strategy. The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill 2021 is the classical example of the strategy of a government that fails. It never addresses any of the harsh realities people are living in. Hindus and Muslims alike, are victimized by the pro rich policies of the government. To oppose the government and its policies, people should be united on a broad platform of secular, democratic, left forces. The fight against the present population bill should be one of the catalysts for intensifying initiatives in that direction. (IPA Service)