PM Modi cites triple-talaq pain, attacks SP over family jibe

LUCKNOW: After SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said that only a person who has a family can understand others’ pain, PM Narendra Modi hit back on Wednesday, asking why the pain of Muslim women, who were victims of triple talaq, was not felt by “those having families”.

“Jo log parivar hone

ki baat karte

hain unhein Muslim Mahilaon ki . . .

unke parivar ki

chinta kyun nahi hui…hum parivar wale nahi

hain lekin har parivar

ka dard pehchante hain… (Those who speak of their families did not realise the pain of Muslim women and their families. We don't have families but understand the pain of all families),” he said at a rally in Barabanki. Modi’s retort was also an attempt to corner SP, which is banking heavily on Muslim support.

Asserting that the “whole of Hindustan” was his “parivar”, he lashed out at the opposition, essentially SP, for ignoring the difficulties faced by Muslim women “for the sake of a vote bank”.

“It was eventually the BJP government that provided relief to Muslim women by coming up with a law banning triple talaq,” he said. The PM emphasised that the law not only provided

UTTAR

relief to Muslim women but also to their fathers and brothers.

The PM said UP’s progress was depend- ent on the security of women who eventually raised the efficiency of the state. “Our mothers and sisters have been at the top of my priorities,” Modi said. His women’s outreach was seen as a counter to Congress whose electoral focus has essentially been women-centric. The PM cited the examples of construction of toilets and giving LPG connections as key initiatives intended to strengthen women. Modi added that the benefits of these schemes reached women from the Dalit,

OBC

and Muslim communities.