Sankaracharya of Puri Swami Nischalananda Saraswati on Friday strongly advocated a ban on abortion and family planning procedures.

He alleged that family planning measures were proving to be the bane of Hindus who would 'become a minority in India quite soon if these practices continue'.

The Sankaracharya said that 'self-control' was the best process and 'not abortion or family planning measures'.

He also demanded that Ganga Sagar, a place of Hindu pilgrimage, be declared a holy place like Haridwar, and that non-vegetarian food like meat, fish and egg be banned from the area.

The Sankaracharya said that the Left Front government in West Bengal should respect the sentiments of the Hindus and take steps to ban non-vegetarian food at the holy site.