Baba Ramdev
India's yoga guru Baba Ramdev speaks at a news conference in New Delhi (file picture)Reuters file [Representational Image]

In another controversial statement, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday (May 26) said that the third-born child in a family should be denied of voting rights as a measure to control the booming population growth problem faced in India.

Baba Ramdev, who was addressing a press conference in Haridwar said, "India's population should not be more than 150 crores in the next 50 years as we are not prepared or ready to bear more than that. This is only possible when the government makes a law that third child would not be allowed to vote, neither contest election nor he or she enjoys any type of privileges and facilities given by the government", reports ANI.

According to him, taking preventive measures like bereft their voting rights and a ban on other government schemes will keep the overpopulation problem from expanding more as India is not ready for more population. He said that if these rules are implied don the people they will not give birth to more children, irrespective of their religion.

He also demanded several other bans including a complete ban on cow slaughter and sale, purchase or consumption of alcohol. He said that only after imposing a ban on cow slaughter will end the constant conflicts between the cow smugglers and cow protectors (gau rakshaks). For those who want to eat meat, there are several other types of meat which they can eat," he said.

The Yogi further said that if the Islamic countries can ban prohibit the consumption of alcohol, then India should also look forward to this as this is a land of sages.

Baba Ramdev is no stranger to such controversial remarks. In January 2019, he said that the government should take away the voting rights of the parents if they have more than two children, irrespective of their religion. He also said that people with more than two children should not be allowed to contest in elections, given government jobs or utilise government facilities such as schools and hospitals and people who do not get married should be rewarded.