Situation will be worse than war if population not controlled: Ramdev

Yoga guru Ramdev on Thursday defended his statement over rising population in India and asserted that if things are not brought under control, situation will worsen in next five-six decades.

The yoga guru made the comment after his remarks that "the Central Government should snatch away the voting rights and government jobs of people who go for more than two children" drew flak from all quarters.

Ramdev told ANI, "The central issues of the Indian politics are - how to control population, agricultural growth, how to make health and education system more productive, industrial growth, how to make India a manufacturing hub, and how to put an end to inflation and poverty. Our politics should be centred on how to make India prosperous and healthy. However, keeping all this, today people are pointing fingers at each other."

He added, "If we don't control the increasing population today, then the future of the country will be in dark. In the last 70 years, the population of India has increased by three to four times. When India got Independence, there were around 30-35 crore people. Today, we have reached over 130 crore. If we will not do something now, then soon the population of India will be around 250 to 300 crore, and India is not ready to handle this much. We don't have that much infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and food to feed these much people. India after 50-60 years from now will be gruesome if something is not done today. It will be worse than a war situation. Why can't we make a law for those who have more than two children that their voting rights will be taken away?"

While attending an event in Aligarh on Wednesday, Ramdev said: "To control the population of the country, voting rights, jobs and treatment facilities should be taken away from people who give birth to more than two kids and whether they are Hindus or Muslims. Then only the population will be controlled."

Meanwhile, when asked about Priyanka Gandhi's appointment as the AICC General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Ramdev said, "Every political party is using the best shots in politics. Let's see who hits the target to what extent. This is clear that good battle is on. But whatever may happen, in the end it should be good for the country.