Press Release in November 2005

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Press release on 24.11.2005

 

The CPM Politburo member, Brinda Karat has revealed her lack of knowledge when she criticised the RSS Sarsanghchalak Sudarshan's reported remarks about the need for Hindus to have larger families to maintain the religious population ratios in the country.

Ms.Karat states that the differential population growth rate and fertility has nothing to with religion but is determined by the economic development levels of the various religious groups.

Research in economics of population reveals by a sophisticated statistical regression analysis that even after eliminating the differences in per capita incomes of religious communities, fertility differences remain and have to be ascribed to religion. That is why despite rising per capita incomes of Christians and Muslims communities in India since 1951, their population growth has accelerated since 1981 while Hindu rate has declined. Since the Hindu character and foundation of India have to be safeguarded, hence the RSS chief made a suggestion. It was not a fatwa for Ms. Karat to implement that she should be so agitated about. It was instead to initiate a debate which the RSS chief has done. What Ms.Karat should make clear is whether she has any other solution for maintaining the religious composition of India in light of Islamic and Evangelical preaching to increase their populations? Here the CPM seems bankrupt of ideas. The RSS chief should therefore be complimented for alerting the country to a future danger.

(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)

 

November 21, 2005

Press Release                             

The electoral victory of Mahinda Rajapakse in the Sri Lanka Presidential election will be welcomed in India with mixed feelings. While there will be happiness amongst patriotic Indians because Rajapakse during his election campaign  had vowed to be tough  on the LTTE, there is however at the same time a concern in India that his retrograde commitment to a unitary Constitution for Sri Lanka will perpetuate the discrimination against  the Tamil minority in the island.

Sri Lanka has to understand that the Tamil question is not an internal matter of Sri Lanka since any time there is trouble in the island, Tamil refugees flood into India. Hence, it is in India’s interest to ensure that there is Tamil-Sinhala amity. This can only be achieved by replacing the present unitary Constitution with  a federal Constitution in which the Tamils elected representatives manage in their own areas of North east Sri Lanka, selected subjects such as law & order, education and civic amenities through devolution.

If Sri Lanka under President  Rajapakse remains committed to retaining the unitary Constitution, then it will become inevitable for patriotic Indians in India’s national interest, to revive the separate Eelam demand which demand had been put in  cold storage since the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.

Hence I demand that the new President of Sri Lanka made his position clear and not risk his country getting divided because of a retrograde and  stupid commitment to a unitary Constitution.     

                                                                   (SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)