Hindutva group wants Andhra govt’s incentive reserved only for Hindus

Hyderabad: The Hindutva extremist group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanded that the state government’s newly announced financial incentives aimed at boosting population growth be restricted exclusively to Hindu couples.

The demand came soon after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu formally cleared a scheme offering ₹30,000 for a third child and ₹40,000 for a fourth child as part of efforts to increase the state’s declining birth rate. Andhra Pradesh’s total fertility rate has reportedly fallen to 1.5, significantly below the 2.1 level considered necessary to maintain population stability.

Arguing that extending the benefits to all communities would alter the demographic balance of the state, VHP leaders claimed Hindu families in southern India had adhered to population-control campaigns during the Emergency period under former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, while alleging that Muslim communities did not participate similarly. The organisation also linked demographic change to religious conversion, alleging an increase in the Christian population.

VHP functionaries from the Telugu states further urged the government to reserve the incentives only for communities with “smaller family sizes,” a formulation widely seen as targeting minorities while presenting the issue as one of population management.

The controversy has also revived attention on earlier remarks by Mohan Bhagwat advocating that every couple should have at least three children, comments that Naidu himself had cited in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India national secretary K Narayana criticised the population policy as impractical and insensitive, arguing that one-time financial assistance could not help poor families raise three or four children in a state struggling to provide adequate education and healthcare facilities. He said the government’s priority should instead be ensuring the welfare and protection of every child until adulthood.