Modi breaks silence, denounces triple talaq

He also adds a Hindu who commits female foeticide should go to jail

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reached out to the women of Uttar Pradesh. In his first comments on the issue, the PM said lives of Muslim women cannot be ruined by triple talaq. He also said a Hindu who commits female foeticide should go to jail.

The PM touched upon the ‘surgical strikes’, stating the country celebrated the festival of ‘chhoti Diwali’ on September 29 — the day the Indian Army struck at terrorist launch pads on the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir. The PM acknowledged the sacrifice made by security forces while protecting the country and urged people to send them “greetings” on Diwali.

The two issues — triple talaq among Muslims and nationalistic fervour across the country in the aftermath of the surgical strikes — are set to be key planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states. This was Modi’s fourth public meeting in Uttar Pradesh in the past six months after Ballia, Gorakhpur and Lucknow.

Modi was addressing a ‘mahaparivartan rally’ public rally in Mahoba, in UP’s Bundelkhand. “Female foeticide is a sin. So what if the sinner is a Hindu…One should not consider religion. Mothers and sisters should be respected,” he said. Modi said: “Now the issue of talaq has come up. Just like if any Hindu commits female foeticide he will have to go to jail, similarly what is the crime of my Muslim sisters that someone says talaq over phone and her life is destroyed.”

He urged television news channels to not turn triple talaq into an issue of Hindu versus Muslim or BJP versus other parties. “In democracy, there should be discussion. The government has put forward its position. Those who want to digress from triple talaq are instigating people...in the country, lives of Muslim women cannot be allowed to be ruined by triple talaq,” he said.

Modi said he was surprised that some political parties of the country in their lust for votes are hell-bent upon committing injustice to women in the 21st century.

He also lashed out at the incumbent Samajwadi Party and previous Bahujan Samaj Party regimes in the state for the alleged backwardness , particularly in the Bundelkhand region. He maintained only BJP could transform UP into an “Uttam Pradesh”.