Modi floats his state population panel

The government faces criticism on two counts: one, the population policy was framed two years ago, but the commission is being set up now, just after a controversy over the Muslim growth rate; two, the commission comes at a time when bypolls are to be held to five Assembly seats.

Initial figures released by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India had indicated that the Muslim population was growing at a much faster rate than that of Hindus. Also, it said the Muslim population growth rate had escalated.

After some parties raised a hue and cry, the census commissioner pointed out that his report had clearly said that Jammu and Kashmir and Assam had not been taken into account. Taking figures for those states into account, the growth rate for the Muslim population had in fact fallen.

GPCC spokesman Hasmukh Patel said, ‘‘The decision to set up the commission on the pretext of achieving targets set in the population policy is aimed at raking up the minority population issue when the by-election to five Assembly seats in Gujarat is round the corner. It also smacks of influencing the electorate in neighbouring Maharashtra, which goes to polls next month.’’

Patel said Chief Minister Narendra Modi ‘‘might have some political design to rake up the population issue, but people won’t be misled’’.

‘‘The clarification from the census authorities will take the wind out of the BJP’s false propaganda and will frustrate Modi’s move,’’ he said, wondering why not a single Congress MLA or MP was included in the commission.

When contacted, Gujarat Health Minister I.K. Jadeja said, ‘‘The commission set up on Thursday has nothing to do with the Muslim population issue. Its main objective is to help the government implement its population policy effectively.’’

State Health Secretary R.L. Meena, on the other hand, claimed the commission had been ‘‘set up about two years ago when the state population policy was announced’’ and that on Thursday it had merely been reconstituted.

But he could not say how many times the commission had met since it was set up two years ago.

According to a senior Health Department official, the population policy does not talk about incentives to control population, and instead focuses on improving woman-child healthcare facilities to have a more balanced growth of population in the state. The policy also emphasises that the choice of contraceptives should be left to women.