BJP MP urges Hindu youth to marry early and have five children

BJP national general secretary Gajendra Singh Patel addressed a crowd on Friday, urging Hindu youngsters to marry in their early twenties and have five children each, arguing that the community's current birth rate of 1.9 is too low compared with a 2.9 rate he attributed to another community. He recalled that previous generations commonly had four to seven children and married around age 20, contrasting that with today’s trend of marriages at 30 or older and single-child families.

Patel claimed that out of every four children born now, only one belongs to Hindus while three belong to the other community, a shift he said began after Independence. He also called for greater promotion of gyms and traditional wrestling arenas to bolster societal strength, and warned against rising drug use, DJ culture and ostentatious behavior among youth. The remarks were.