A social media post sharing an alert message in the name of senior Supreme Court lawyer Harish Salve is being widely circulated. The message alerts people of civil war following the passage of a few important bills like the Population control bill, CAA, etc. which the message anticipates will pass once BJP attains a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Further, the message claims that in 73 years of independence, the population of Muslims in India has increased from 30 million to 300 million. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Alert message issued by senior lawyer Harish Salve in anticipation of a civil war in the country.
Fact: There are no credible reports about senior lawyer Harish Salve commenting anything in line with population control bill or the other claims made in the post. In the recent Parliament session, union health minister expressed governments reluctance of using force to control the population, and thus a private member bill introduced in this regard was withdrawn. There are no reports of government bringing any legislation to control population in near future. Hence the claims made in the post are FALSE.
In the past, Harish Salve shared his opinions on Citizenship Amendment Act, speaking to the media he said ‘I fail to understand how a law which is designed to confer the benefit on an identified class of persons, and which identification is based on a rational criterion, can be condemned as being discriminatory on the ground that the legislation could have created a wider class’.
However, we could not find any reports of him speaking on the population control bill. Further, there are no reports stating Harish Salve made statements in line with the viral message. If indeed Harish Salve has issued any such oral or written message, the media would have reported it, however, we could not find any such reports.
Further, let us look at the claims made in the post individually.
BJP attaining majority in Rajya Sabha:
Earlier this month after winning four of the thirteen seats in the recently concluded elections, BJP has become the first party to cross the double-digit tally in the Rajya Sabha, after the period 1988-90.
Though BJP has become the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha, as per the news reports (here & here) it is unlikely that it gains a majority in the upper house by 2024.
Population Control Bill:
In 2019, Rakesh Sinha, BJP MP introduced a private bill named the Population Regulation bill, seeking to enforce a two-child rule with penal provisions for violations. However, during the recent parliament session, he withdrew the bill following the Union Health Minister’s intervention.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that instead of using force, the government had successfully used awareness and health campaigns to achieve population control.
Further, there are no reports stating that the Government is planning to introduce any legislation for population control in near future.
Muslim Population of the country:
The post claims that in 73 years of independence, the population of Muslims in India has increased from 30 million to 300 million. However, going by the census of India 2011, the total Muslim population of the county stands at 17.22 crores, which is 14.2% of India’s population and the next census enumeration is currently underway. Thus the official count of the total population of Muslims in India stands at 17.22 crores.
A report released in 2015 by US-based Pew Research Center, predicted the total population of Muslims in India by 2050 stands at 311 million and the Hindu population at 1.3 billion. As per the report, there are 213 million Muslims in 2020.
Thus from the above explanation, it is evident that the claims made in the post are mere speculations and not backed by any official information or research.
To sum it up, this viral message attributed to senior lawyer Harish Salve is fake.
