JD(U) slurs Bihar BJP chief over population growth rate figures

The JD(U) slammed Bihar BJP leader Sanjay Jaiswal for providing ‘misleading’ data on population growth rate in two districts of the state, alleging he was trying to incite communal hatred among people.

Jaiswal had claimed on Wednesday that the population growth rate in Kishanganj and Araria districts was the “highest in the world”, partly due to the allegedly high rate of influx of “Bangladeshi infiltrators”.

“All the BJP leaders including Jaiswal are engaged in inciting communal hatred among the people of the state for political advantage… They (the BJP) are doing it while the minister of l ‘Union Interior Amit Shah is due to visit Bihar on September 24,’ JD (U) leaders Neeraj Kumar and Arvind Nishad said in a statement on Friday.

“Jaiswal gives wrong and misleading information. The population growth rate in several other districts of India is much higher than in Araria and Kishanganj,” they claimed.

According to the 2011 census, Kishanganj has a Muslim population of 67%, the highest of any district in Bihar, followed by the neighboring town of Araria, where the figure is 43%.

Jaiswal had made the remarks in Araria, where he was galvanizing support for Shah’s rally at nearby Purnea later this month.