Rejecting allegations that triple talaq issue is being raked up to polzarise votes, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) today said that this is not a religious issue for it but one of women’s rights.
“We do not see triple talaq from the prism of religion, this is a women’s rights issue for us,” BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said at India TV’s Chunav Manch Conclave in Lucknow today.
The issue of triple talaq was at the core of discussion in the session that also featured All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Samajwadi Party leader Gaurav Bhatia.
Attacking the BJP for seeking to impose the ideology of majority on minorities, Owaisi said India is a diverse country and every community can be brought under Uniform Civil Code.
Accusing ‘secular’ leaders of using Muslims as vote banks, Owaisi said the community considered Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and Rajiv Gandhi their leaders but was betrayed.
He sarcastically gave ‘triple talaq’ to BJP, Congress and SP.
Owaisi also demanded that the the Haj subsidy should instead be used for the development of Muslim community.
The session also saw a heated argument between SP’s Gaurav Bhatia and BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi over development issue when former questioned the latter on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of giving employment to 2 crore people.
Trivedi was also attacked by other two panellists over absence of Muslim names in BJP’s candidate list for Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.