Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the party karyakartas in Bhopal on Tuesday entailed his opinion of the Uniform Civil Code, Triple talaq and the development of Pasmanda Muslims. The opposition parties slam Modi for bringing out these issues to distract the citizens from the underlying real issues in the country as the assembly elections are coming up.
PM Modi also criticised the opposition parties for their recent union front attempt at the Patna meeting. Congress KC Venugopal told the media, "He (PM) should first answer about poverty, price rise and unemployment in the country. He never speaks on Manipur issue, the whole state is burning from the last 60 days. He is just distracting people from all these issues," as he points out that the PM did not speak about 'real' issues.
PM Modi in his speech mentioned that the Bharatiya Janata Party would not adopt appeasement and vote bank politics. Ahead of that, he spoke about the need for the Uniform Civil Code and the abolishment of triple talaq essential for a democracy. On the topic of UCC, PM Modi said, "India’s Muslim brothers and sisters should understand which political parties are trying to incite them and trying to profit by destroying them. In the name of the Uniform Civil Code, they are trying to incite them.”
Congress leader Tariq Anwar reportedly claimed that the Prime Minister was practising polarization during his speech, he said, “When any law is made it is for everyone and they have to follow it. Then what is the need to discuss that bill which has already been passed? PM Modi is doing so because of upcoming Madhya Pradesh elections are ahead and they have done nothing for the country. Hence, they will talk about topics like Triple Talaq and Uniform Civil Code.”
Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader TKS Elangovan pointed out that if the PM thinks UCC is a good idea, then it should be introduced to the Hindus first. He reportedly said, "Uniform Civil Code should be first introduced in the Hindu religion. Every person including SC/ST should be allowed to perform pooja in any temple in the country. We don't want UCC only because the Constitution has given protection to every religion. It is a violation of fundamental rights, which a government is not supposed to do.”
PM Modi slammed the critiques of triple talaq and questioned why other countries have abolished the practice already, he said, “Whoever talks in favour of Triple Talaq, whoever advocates it, those vote bank hungry people are doing a great injustice to Muslim daughters. Triple talaq doesn't just do injustice to daughters. It is beyond this; the whole family get ruined. If it has been a necessary tenet of Islam, then why was it banned in countries like Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.”
Asaduddin Owaisi, the chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) argued on Twitter about PM Modi's statements, he wrote, “Modi ji has said that there is a ban on triple talaq. Why is Modi ji getting his inspiration from Pakistani law? He even made a law against triple talaq here, but it did not make any difference at the ground level. Rather, the exploitation of women has increased further. We have always been demanding that social reform will not happen through laws. If a law has to be made, then it should be made against those men who flee from their marriages.”
He further explained, “He [PM Modi] has been governing for nine years, if he wanted to bring UCC, why didn't he do it earlier? It could've been discussed and all political parties could have had a say in the matter. But it wasn't done.”
PM Modi mentioned the Constitution allowing equal rights for all, Congress leader Arif Masood told the media, “PM should remember that he has taken oath on the Constitution drafted by Dr BR Ambedkar. All sections of the country have faith in Constitution and will not allow it to change or be destroyed.”
Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi reportedly said, “All political parties and stakeholders should be engaged on the issue of the Uniform Civil Code," as he accused BJP of engaging in vote bank politics.
