Indian MP: Hindu women must have more babies

(Image credit: Twitter.com/IndianExpress)

last updated 10 January 2015

In a move analysts say was meant to provoke Muslims, an Indian MP named Sakshi Maharaj is calling for Hindu women to have at least four children "in order to protect the Hindu religion."

Maharaj, a member of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also made the news in December when he called Mahatma Gandhi's killer a patriot. Opposition Congress party spokesman Sanjay Jha called his latest comments "ludicrous and provocative."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.