Stoking another controversy, BJP MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj said that a Hindu woman must produce at least four children to “protect” the religion. One of them should help in propagating the religion.
“The concept of four wives and 40 children will not work in India. The time has come when a Hindu woman must bear at least four children in order to protect Hindu religion,’’ he said in a function during Sant Samagam Mahotsav in Meerut.
He emphasised that it was necessary for Hindus to increase their population to protect the religion. “look where we stand now. The Hindu families are opting for one or two child norm while Muslims are having seven to eight children. The Muslim men are also entitled to have four wives and this way a family has many children,” he said.
He also suggested that of these four children the Hindus should send one of them to army and give another to Sant Samaj for propagation of Hindu religion. The third should be sent to join RSS and the fourth sibling should serve his parents.
He had gone to Meerut to attend a Sant Sammelan organised by Swami Mahendra Das Maharaj. When asked about Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to exempt Aamir Khan starrer PK from entertainment tax, Shakshi Maharaj said it was a political decision. The decision has intensified protests across the State, he said.
The BJP MP also opposed the conversion in the State and demanded a strict law to ban this system. “The people behind the conversion should be hanged. The Government should bring a strict Act,” he said. He, however, maintained that ‘Ghar Wapsi’ was not at all a conversion programme. He also said that people involved in cow slaughter should also be given capital punishment.
He was earlier at the centre of controversy when he described Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a ‘patriot’. He had said, ‘’Godse was an aggrieved person. He may have done something by mistake but was not anti-national. He was a patriot.’’
He later apologised for his comments. Sadhvi Prachi, who also attending this programme, said a campaign to save Hinduism would be launched from Meerut just like the Independence movement, which began from here.