Hindu women urged to stop using contraceptives

The more babies the better, says nationalist leader

Hindus have been urged by their most powerful representative body to stop using contraceptives so that India remains a Hindu-majority nation.

K.S. Sudarshan, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or National Volunteers' Force, said Hindu couples should produce at least three children to maintain the country's 'demographic balance'. The request runs counter to a semi-official 'two-child norm' aimed at keeping a cap on growth in the world's second most-populous nation.

All Hindu groups, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad, owe allegiance to the National Volunteers' Force, the fountainhead of Hindu nationalism.

'The more the merrier. Have 17 children if possible. My advice to every Hindu woman is: don't practise birth control. We are instituting awards for women who produce 10 children,' Mr Sudarshan said.

Analysts say Mr Sudarshan's remarks stem from the fallacious theory propagated by Hindu hardliners that Muslims and Christians are breeding faster than Hindus who will soon be outnumbered. According to a 2001 census report, Hindus account for an overwhelming 80.5 per cent of 1.03 billion Indians. India's Muslim community is 138 million-strong, or 13.4 per cent of the population. Christians are the third largest group (24 million) followed by Sikhs (19 million).