BJP MLA demands population bill in Bihar

Vijay Kumar Khemka, a BJP MLA, on Wednesday, raised the demand for population control legislation in the state on the floor of the assembly in Bihar. Khemka moved a calling attention motion to the effect. "We want to draw the attention of the House towards the need for imposing the two-child norm across all castes and communities," the motion said.

"We request the government to give serious consideration to a population control law. It is as important as having a law to ban sale and consumption of alcohol," Khemka told reporters outside the assembly.

The government chose not to respond to the motion. The motion also demanded the implementation of the Karunakaran Committee report, which proposes measures such as disqualifying from elections if one has more than two children.

When asked if this is a ploy of the BJP to bother Nitish Kumar now that the BJP enjoys the upper hand in the assembly, he replied, "it is not about the party. It is about the whole society".

After BJP governments proposed population control bills in Assam and Uttar Pradesh, Nitish Kumar had expressed disagreement and noted that only with the education of women and raising awareness can this be controlled.

The BJP, meanwhile, is accusing Nitish Kumar of not taking up the legislation route for population control, fearing a backlash from the Muslim community whom they allege to have poor family planning.