Katiyar backs Assam population control, pan-India ban on cow slaughter

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar on Monday fully backed the Assam government's latest population control policy and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's demand for a pan-India ban on cow slaughter.

The Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP told ANI that he fully supports the Assam government's population control measures.

The Assam government has drafted a new population policy to make couples with more than two kids ineligible for government jobs.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday announced that couples having more than two children will be barred from government jobs.

The Assam government is also planning to change laws to bar those having more than two children from being elected or nominated to panchayat and other local bodies.

The draft state population policy, which has been put in public domain for comments and recommendations, will be placed before the state assembly soon.

The draft population policy, a part of the BJP's vision document for the state, also eyes fixing a minimum age of marriage and debarring those couples from applying for government jobs who have violated the legal norms of marriage.

The new policy recommends increasing the punishment for child marriages from imprisonment for two years to four years in jail.

The new population policy is being seen as an attempt to tackle the Bangladeshi immigrants, who generally have large families.

Katiyar also supported RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's for a pan-India ban on cow slaughter.

He said there shouldn't be any type of violence in the name of saving cows.

Bhagwat had condemned violence in the name of cow protection, but strongly demandeda law to ban cow slaughter across India.

Violence in the name of cow protection has often pushed the centre on the backfoot.

Recently, a Muslim, Pehlu Khan, was killed by cow vigilantes in Alwar, Rajasthan. The Opposition parties have censured the Modi government and alleged that it has been overlooking violence in the name of protecting cows.

The 'violent' cow vigilantism shot into prominence with the death of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, in September 2015. Akhlaq was lynched to death by a mob, which suspected he had slaughtered a cow.

Reacting to a BJP MLA's warning of beheading 'traitors' who oppose the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Katiyar said: "I have not heard what he has said. But, if reported statement is correct then we don't support it."

In a viral video, T Raja Singh, MLA of Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad, is heard issuing a threat to those opposed to construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.