Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi said that Islam is not opposed to the concept of family planning. He said that things like Muslims leaving behind Hindus in terms of population are mere propaganda. The former Election Commissioner made these remarks during a discussion on Qureshi’s book ‘The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India’ at the India International Centre.
Qureshi claimed that various myths were being spread about the Muslim population in India, due to which a sense of enmity was being created among Hindus towards Muslims. Referring to the list of myths related to Muslim population in India, he said that it is shown that Muslims produce many children and they alone are responsible for the population explosion.
Qureshi said, “Yes, Muslims are at the lowest level of family planning – only 45.3%. Second place with 54.4 per cent and total fertility rate of 2.13. These facts have been completely ignored.”