NEW DELHI, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Indian police have booked a controversial lawmaker of the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for apparently blaming Muslims for India's population rise.
"A First Information Report has been filed against BJP parliamentarian Sakshi Maharaj at a police station in the northern city of Meerut for his remarks accusing Muslims for the country's population boom," a senior police official said Sunday.
Maharaj had, during an election campaign in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Friday, said: "The population rise is not because of Hindus. Population has risen due to those who support the concept of four wives and 40 children."
India's main opposition Congress party has slammed Maharaj's remarks in Uttar Pradesh that goes to polls next month. "The speech of Sakshi Maharaj based on religion and caste is offensive and it violates the Model Code of Conduct. I feel action should be taken," party leader K.C. Mittal said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has distanced itself from the lawmaker's remarks. "This shouldn't be seen as BJP's stand," Indian minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the media Saturday.
