Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the government cannot allow the lives of Muslim women to be destroyed by the practice of triple talaq. The Prime Minister made the statement while attending a rally in Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the upcoming state assembly elections.
Triple talaq is a practice where certain Muslim men can divorce their spouses by uttering the word 'talaq' three times consecutively.
"It is the responsibility of the government and the people of the country to give justice to Muslim women under the Constitution. The debate should be between Muslims who want reforms and those who do not want reforms. "Is it fair for a man to say "talaq" thrice over the phone and a Muslim woman's life to be ruined?" Modi said, while addressing a rally in Bundelkhand.
PM Modi also added that he was surprised to see that certain parties wanted to let Muslim women be without their basic rights, just for the sake of vote banks. He urged people to not politicize the issue of triple talaq.
"I request people who participate in TV debates not to make women rights into Muslim-Hindu issue. Women's right is a development issue. Let's take proper measures to give equal rights to women as well," Modi said.
The chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi had accused the Prime Minister of converting the issue of triple talaq into a political one to garner votes ahead of the assembly elections in certain states.
"Around 7.36 crore Muslims are married in the country and they have not divorced. Hardly one per cent of Muslims have gone for talaq. But, (Narendra) Modi is making this a tool in his 'Mann ki Baat' for political gains in view of the forthcoming elections," Owaisi had said in a public meeting in Mumbai.
PM Modi is currently in Mahoba, a district in Bundelkhand, to campaign for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
