During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s son, had embarked on a gruesome mission, to sterilize as many Indians as possible. Encouraged by the tens of millions of dollars given by the World Bank, Swedish International Development Authority, and the UN Population Fund, the illegitimate government of India at that time treated its own people as livestock.
As per reports, after the Emergency was imposed in 1975, approximately 6.2 million Indian men were sterilized in just one year. Poor, uneducated men from undeveloped areas were the government’s favorite target. Sometimes, even the entire village was cordoned off by the police and the men were dragged for surgeries.
Paul Ehrlich’s idea of population control
In 1968, German physician Paul Ehrlich published his book ‘The Population Bomb’. The hastily written book was widely promoted by the author. Ehrlich had predicted a doom and gloom scenario for the whole world, telling that the planet has been overpopulated and soon millions of people will be starving to death.
“Hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death. No matter what people do, “nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate, the book said.
In 1970, the book saw a sudden jump in popularity after Ehrlich appeared on NBC’s Tonight Show in the USA.
Eventually, promoted by Ehrlich’s relentless fearmongering, the idea of the ‘Population Bomb’ became mainstream. Government and international organizations started promoting massive population control measures. However, in India, the idea caused a whole different level of perversion, the forced sterilization program led by Sanjay Gandhi.
Elon Musk calls it ‘an immense damage to humanity’
On 26 June, a Twitter handle @mezaoptimizer shared some excerpts from an article, describing how Ehrlich’s predictions about overpopulation leading to doom have been proven wrong. Ehrlich had predicted that England will cease to exist by the 2000s and over 65 million Americans will starve to death.
Ehrlich had recommended forced sterilization for India, as per the article. The then US President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told the PM of India that India can get the US govt’s financial help only if it carries out a mass sterilization program of its population. Encouraged by his mother, Sanjay Gandhi allocated quotas to CMs of states, especially UP and Bihar, to sterilize men in villages. Government officials were encouraged and pressurized to achieve targets for the given number of mass sterilizations in their respective locations.
Ok WHAT. I had no idea “The Population Bomb” led to the sterilization of 8 million Indians and Paul Ehrlich just lives out his life as a beloved professor. From a recent ACX post— pic.twitter.com/gtIDYC3pcu
— Alt Man Sam (@mezaoptimizer) June 26, 2023
The article highlights how Ehrlich went on to receive every single award for environmental science and activism possible. He has earned millions over the years and is now a professor emeritus at Stanford University.
Elon Musk responded to the tweet, saying how Paul Ehrlich caused immense damage to humanity.
Paul Ehrlich has done immense damage to humanity. Immense. I despise him.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2023
As per reports, the institutions like Ford and Rockefeller Foundation played a key role in carrying out forced sterilizations in India. The USA, the country that lectures non-stop about human rights and democracy today, was on board with this program. World Bank President Robert McNamara even praised Indira Gandhi, saying, “At long last, India is moving to effectively address its population problem.”
During Indira Gandhi’s visit to Washington, an adviser had reportedly asked US President Johnson if he is considering giving aid to India. “Are you out of your f*cking mind? I’m not going to piss away foreign aid in nations where they refuse to deal with their own population problems”, was reportedly his response.
The forced sterilization of millions of Indian men remains one of the darkest, most horrific chapters in the modern history of the country. Over 2000 men had died during botched-up procedures.
