The Shiv Sena has once again sparked controversy by supporting forced sterilisation of Muslims in order to control their thriving population, which the party thinks would exceed the number of Hindus in the country if not stopped now.
"India is facing the problem of population explosion. The population of Muslims in India is going to be more than Pakistan or Indonesia. This will hurt the culture and social fabric of a Hindu nation," according to an editorial in Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Saamna on Wednesday, says Hindustan Times.
The editorial actually supports All India Hindu Mahasabha vice-president Sadhvi Deva Thakur's recent demand to force Muslims and Christians to undergo sterilisation or nasbandi to control their population.
Seeking to equate sterilisation with family planning, the editorial said: "What she meant was family planning...She should not have uttered the word 'nasbandi'. But family planning and population control are one and the same thing," IANS quoted Sena as saying in the editorial.
The Sena said that sterilisation will benefit Muslims.
"When we raise the demand for performing 'nasbandi' -- sorry, family planning -- it is in the best interests of the country and the Muslim community... With family planning, they will be able to feed and educate the children and live better lives..." the Sena said.
The latest remark from the Sena comes within days of another editorial in which it had advocated disenfranchising Muslims for some years.
