Centre committed to ensure equality for women: Dattatreya

Central government is committed to ensure equality and protection for every woman irrespective of her religion, Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said today while rejecting the allegations that ruling BJP is trying to make triple talaq an election issue in Uttar Pradesh.
"Muslim women have launched a movement that they should get freedom and gender equality. They have gone to the court, not the government. The matter is pending in the court. But when the Supreme Court asked Centre (about triple talaq issue), the government clarified that it wanted to ensure equality to all women irrespective of their religion," the Labour Minister told reporters here while replying to a query on the issue.

The issue of triple talaq is being widely debated in various sections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently denouncing the practice among Muslims.
"If Muslim women want freedom and protection, it's also duty of Union government to protect them. It's the responsibility of Centre to take care of each and every citizen whether they are Hindu, Muslim or Christian.
"In the past 60 years, the Congress party and some others have treated it (religion) as their vote bank. (However), we don't want to go in that direction. Modi government is making efforts to make India the best country in world but not on pity issues," the minister said.

Briefing about several decisions and schemes of his ministry, the senior BJP leader said, "Modi governmenthas taken several pro-worker decisions in a span of past two years, which was not done in the entire UPA rule.