Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. (File Photo/PTI)
The Modi government has accused former Congress chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi of not supporting it over the issue of Triple Talaq due to vote bank politics.
Addressing a press conference after the Modi Cabinet approved an ordinance to make Triple Talaq or instant divorce an offence, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad charged Sonia Gandhi of turning blind towards such an important issue concerning country's women. He said that there was urgency, compelling necessity for ordinance on Triple Talaq as practice was continuing unabated.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Government sought Congress' support over the bill on five different occasions but the Congress turned away.
"It is my serious charge with full sense of responsibility that a distinguished woman leader is the ultimate leader of the Congress party, yet such a barbaric, inhuman triple talaq was not allowed to be ended by law by the Congress for pure vote bank politics. Sonia Gandhi did not stand by us in abolishing this practice," Prasad said.
"I appeal to Sonia Gandhi to rise above vote bank politics. I would also request the same from Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee, he added.
The 'Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill' was cleared by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks numbers.
The Supreme Court last year banned the practice. But since the practice was still prevalent, a bill was brought to make it a penal offence.
WATCH: Modi Cabinet approves ordinance on Triple Talaq
