British newspaper Daily Telegraph, which created a stir on Saturday by reporting that Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi intends to follow his father's population control measures, has denied that the BJP leader wanted to re-introduce forced sterilisation.
The paper's South Asia Editor, Dean Nelson, who interviewed the BJP candidate in Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency, has said that the Gandhi scion told him that he wants to take up the issue of population control, but that he believes the earlier policy was implemented in a roughshod manner.
He favours a softer approach of positive incentives such as financial benefits for those who choose to have smaller families, Nelson said in his clarification.
The newspaper also amended its earlier report on the website, quoting Gandhi as saying that while the methods used by the government at that time were 'roughshod' and considered by many to be 'too forceful', he believed India's population required urgent action.
