Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In an attempt to blur religion divisions, while simultaneously mounting an attack on Opposition, PM Modi said "Indian Muslims should understand they are being incited for oppositions' gains."
"If opposition was the real well wisher of Muslims, then my Muslim brothers and sisters would not be lacking behind in education and employment,” said PM Narendra Modi during an interaction with the BJP booth workers in Bhopal on Tuesday.
PM Modi further talked about the need for Uniform Civil Code and said that even the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of it.
'Can A Country Run On Two Laws?...'
Modi asked how different rules could apply to members of the same family?
He said, "Muslims of India should understand who are those inciting them for their own gains. Today we are seeing some people inciting others (Muslims) in the name of uniform civil code. Even the Constitution talks about equal rights to the citizens. They (opposition) blame us, but it is they who do Muslim, Muslim.”
He also said that people who are supporting the triple talaq are doing grave injustice to Muslim daughters.
“Some people think that triple talaq only concerns women. But, it is not true. Its implications are bigger than that. A family marries their daughter with so much hope and if she returns home after sometime because her husband divorced her by saying ‘talaq’ three times, it shatters the whole family,” he said.
'Triple Talaq A Means To Oppress Muslim Women'
He added that if triple talaq had any connection with Islam then several Muslim dominated countries of the world would not have banned triple talaq.
“I was in Egypt yesterday and Egypt has 90 percent population belonging to the Sunni community. But, it has abolished triple talaq more than 80-90 years ago. Some people are trying to use triple talaq as a means to keep oppressing Muslim women,” he said.
Opposition slams PM's UCC pitch
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch for a uniform civil code has been vehemently questioned by the Congress and its ally, the DMK. The ruling party of Tamil Nadu had contended that a uniform code should first be applied to the Hindus, who will then have to allow people from all castes to pray in temples.
Smelling the Prime Minister’s pet electoral tactics to polarize Hindu and Muslim votes, DMK leader TKS Elangovan challenged the ruling party saying: "Uniform Civil Code should be first introduced in the Hindu religion. Every person including Scheduled Castes and Tribes should be allowed to perform pooja in any temple in the country. We don't want UCC (uniform Civil Code) only because the Constitution has given protection to every religion".
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said that the Prime Minister is just distracting people from important issues as he “should first answer about poverty, price rise and unemployment in the country". "He never speaks on Manipur issue”, he said in a statement.
The PM’s statement on the UCC is part of the well deliberated strategy as his comments immediately follow the 22nd Law Commission seeking views from various stakeholders on a uniform civil code and reports that the government could bring in a bill in the next session of Parliament.
Irony of the whole issue is that the 21st Law Commission, appointed by the Modi government, had opposed the implementation of the UCC in its recommendations but with the objective of the BJP’s tactics of dividing the polity on Hindu and Muslims, the new Commission was asked to revive the issue.
