Yoga guru and retail entrepreneur Baba Ramdev on Sunday said that those who marry and have more than two children should be denied their voting rights.

“In this country, those who, like me, do not marry, should be honoured, and those who marry and have more than two children, their voting rights should be taken away,” he said while addressing a gathering at his Yogpeeth in Haridwar.

He said that though population control was a “political issue”, in “Indian tradition Vedas advocate having even 10 offsprings if the population is less… so those who afford to have as many and have the need for as many, may have them.”

He said that a fully awakened and conscious “soul” was more powerful than millions of people.