TIL Desk/National/Meerut/ The Election Commission (EC) issued a showcause notice to controversial Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj on Tuesday over his “four wives, 40 children” remark that indirectly blamed Muslims for “the population explosion” in the country.
The EC said prima facie the BJP MP seemed to have violated the model code of conduct and asked him why action should not be taken against him for his controversial remark. The EC has set Wednesday morning as the deadline for Sakshi’s reply. Also faced with an FIR that was filed by the Meerut police as Sakshi had made the statement here during a meeting of sants last week, the chastised MP defended himself and said “the media has misrepresented” his statement.
Putting forward the argument that even Lord Krishna had 16,000 wives who bore him 10 children each, and king Dashrath had three wives, the BJP leader said he had done nothing wrong by making the statement at a religious event. “Even our Lalu Prasad Yadav has a dozen children,” he said. It’s a different matter that the Bihar politician has nine. “I never said anything against Muslims. I did not even use the term ‘Islam’. Yes, I admit that I said population is increasing because some people have four wives and 40 children. How can media relate this to Muslims?” Sakshi added.