Stating that it was imperative to control population growth of West Bengal, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday asked Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to adopt effective policies, including mandatory family planning.

Sharing the stage with the chief minister during the launch of the HPV vaccine drive in Kolkata, Bhattacharya said family planning was crucial.

During his speech, Samik Bhattacharya said, “The issue of the growing population in West Bengal needs to be considered with utmost importance. In the interest of building a healthy, orderly society, it is imperative to increase awareness about family planning and adopt effective policies.”

“In a healthy society, whether family planning can be made mandatory or making it a flagship programme of the government, and through vigorous awareness campaign, population growth can be controlled,” Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha member, said.

“We have to see whether we can ease the pressure on land (from the rising population). We have to see whether, through birth control, we can do all-around development for women. We can bring in education and socio- economic development of women. The chief minister will take a decision on this,” he added.

Praising the chief minister for having “touched the emotions of the people”, Bhattacharya said, “Certain exemplary decisions have been taken by the new government. The state government welfare schemes have been aligned with the Central schemes. I would request the chief minister to shoulder the responsibility of population control (in West Bengal).”

Bhattacharya’s statement comes amid the Centre forming a five-member High-Level Committee on Demographic Change to investigate “artificial” and “unnatural” population change across the country.