BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that triple talaq has no place in the country despite facing opposition from the Congress that never cared for the honour of Muslim women.
Shah was addressing a gathering, where a sizeable number of Muslim women were in attendance. “The Congress never cared for the honour of Muslim mothers and sisters. It has no courage to deal with issues like triple talaq. Despite stiff opposition from the Congress, (Prime Minister) Modi has ensured that it (triple talaq) has no place in the country,” Shah said.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance was promulgated on September 19 under which instant triple talaq has been declared illegal and punishable with a jail term of three years for the husband.
Shah said the BJP has encouraged women not just by words but by giving them important responsibilities, including as defence and external affairs ministers, governors and chief ministers. He said that the BJP had created a record in honouring women while the Congress had done nothing for them despite being in power for a long time.
“Not just by words, but Modi government has given them (women) space in the Union Cabinet by inducting nine women ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister and Sushma Swaraj as external affairs minister,” Shah said at the ‘kamal shakti samvad’ function.
Swaraj has been given the prime responsibility of establishing good relations with countries and enhancing trade with them, Shah said.
He added that during the BJP rule, six women were appointed as governors of states, including that of Madhya Pradesh who earlier was Gujarat’s first woman chief minister.
He hit out at the opposition party for disrespecting senior BJP leader, late Vijaya Raje Scindia, affectionately known as Rajmata, claiming that she had been oppressed and jailed. He added that Scindia never gave up despite the Congress troubling her for long, and this had led to the “lotus (BJP symbol) blooming in the entire region”.
