GUWAHATI, Oct 28 - Padma Shri awardee and member of the Assam State Population Policy panel professor Dr Ilias Ali today termed All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Badruddin Ajmal�s opposition to the State�s two-child norm as a political stunt which was against Islam�s stricture on family planning.
Professor Ali who is making untiring efforts to popularise family planning in the char-chapori areas of the state talking to The Assam Tribune said, �Ajmal must have made this comment in his personal capacity or to derive some political mileage. He must understand that this will boomerang on him because the Muslim people will not be mislead by his assertions. After all Ajmal is not going to look after the children of the big Muslim families�.
Describing Ajmal�s political stand as contradictory, Professor Ali said, �During the last Panchayat election, Ajmal�s AIUDF contested the elections after the state government had declared that candidates having more than two children would not be eligible to contest. His party did not boycott the polls but actively took part in the elections. So why the contradictory stand today?�
The State Cabinet on October 21 last adopted the state population policy which will come into effect from January 1, 2021. Under the policy anyone having more than two children will not be eligible for government jobs nor will they be able to contest elections.
Professor Ali�s work to popularise family planning in every nook and corner of Assam has increased the female and male participation in birth control programmes and this has led to decrease of total fertility rate (TFR) from 2.6 in 2009 to 2.2 in 2015-2016 against 2.3 of the nation.
Asserting that Islam allows family planning and many countries have active population and family planning programmes, professor Ali said that there are plenty of evidences favouring small families in Islamic holy books.
�Islam is always in favour of quality of children not on quantity. Teeming multitudes of underfed, half-clad and uneducated souls cannot be the essence of a true Islamic society. The Holy Quran forbids believers from raising large untenable families�, professor Ali added.
