BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi has frowned on modern educated women who, under “western influences”, choose to stay single and avoid giving childbirth.

His comments came as he defended Karnataka health minister K. Sudhakar, who had said that well-employed young women preferred not to give childbirth and that this was “not good”.

Asked to react to Sudhakar’s comment, Ravi told news agency ANI on Monday: “Not all women are like that. Even today family values are respected in our country, which is not like America or England.”

But he added: “Some of the educated, particularly those working in IT-BT (information technology-biotechnology), have ‘progressed’ too much. This is happening because of western influences and micro-families. This is something that needs to be taken seriously.”

Sudhakar, a medical doctor, had sparked controversy on Sunday by saying modern Indian women were refusing to conceive and often opted for surrogacy to have children.

Speaking at a World Mental Health Day event at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences, Sudhakar had spoken of a “paradigm shift” in the way modern Indian women saw the family.

“Sorry to say this, a lot of modern women in India want to stay single. Even if they are married, they don’t want to give birth. They want surrogacy. So there is a paradigm shift in our thinking, which is not good,” the health minister had said.

Sudhakar, castigated for his remarks, later clarified that his comments were based on a survey.

“First of all I would like to convey that I’m myself a proud father of a daughter and I’m also a medical doctor by training. So I fully understand the sensitivities around women and also the mental health issues that are concerning us,” he said in a statement.

“My statement about (the) younger generation shying away from marriage and reproduction is based on a survey. The findings of YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey show that, among millennials, 19 per cent aren’t interested in either children or marriage. Another 8 per cent want children but are not interested in marriage. Among post-millennials (or Gen Z adults), 23 per cent aren’t interested in either children or marriage. As in the case of millennials, 8 per cent want children but are not interested in marriage.”

Trying to douse the controversy, Sudhakar added that even modern men preferred to stay single. “There are very little gender-wise differences in these trends. It is applicable to both boys and girls.”

Responding to these comments, Congress worker Lavanya Ballal tweeted: “Here are some people who stayed single to pursue their career @narendramodi, @myyogiadityanath, mohanbhagawath, umabharathi.”