Himanta Sarma slams Badruddin Ajmal's remarks: 'If you can nurture those kids…'

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed Badruddin Ajmal on Monday, three days after the AIUDF head's controversial comments on women and the Hindu community.

Sarma said Ajmal had said women should continue to give birth to as many children as possible, “but I say that if women give birth to more children, then he should nurture the children till they grow up and pay for their expenses”.

He urged Muslim women not to be"swayed" by statements of “people like Ajmal” who ask them to bear more children and asked them to limit their families to two children to provide them with a good education.

“I want to tell my Muslim sisters that don’t listen to Badruddin Ajmal and do not give birth to more than two children,” the Assam chief minister said at a public meeting at Bongaigaon, which is located near Dhubri which Ajmal represents in the Lok Sabha.

“If a woman gives birth to many children, it will affect her physically, it will also affect our society, and Assam will be destroyed.... A woman is not a factory for childbirth,” Sarma added.

He alleged that Ajmal was making certain statements just to appease a certain section of the society for vote bank politics.

“I don’t need your votes, but don’t listen to Ajmal. Don’t have more than two children so that you can bring them up to be top players, doctors and engineers,” the Assam CM added, referring to Muslim women.

The AIUDF chief, in an interview to news agency ANI on Friday, had commented on women and Hindu men as well as Sarma purportedly as a response to the chief minister's remarks on 'love jihad'.

Ajmal, who is referred to as a Maulana, had reportedly advised Hindus to marry young to produce more children like Muslims. As the comments were denounced and complaints were lodged with the police across the state, the MP apologised the next day and said he was “ashamed” of the controversy it stoked.

He, however, maintained that his comments were twisted and he had not targeted any community.

Sarma spoke of the problems faced by the poor Bengali-speaking Muslims living in the 'char' (riverine) areas in bringing up their children, especially in educating them and keeping away malnutrition, news agency PTI reported.