PM Narendra Modi must leave talaq issue to Muslims: Mayawati

NEW DELHI: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the issue of the so-called triple talaq, or instant divorce, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday said that it is better for the Centre and the PM to avoid intervention in the matter and to leave it to consensus within the Muslim community.

The PM had at a “maha parivartan (mega change)” rally at Mahoba in UP described triple talaq as a practice that goes against the rights of Muslim women and said that the issue should not be communalised or politicised.

Four-time chief minister Mayawati, in a press release issued by the BSP, said it is a matter of sorrow that the BJP has been trying to impose the “sankirna, sampradayik va kattarwadi (narrow, communal and fundamentalist)” agenda of the RSS on the people of the country in different forms ever since the formation of its government with full majority at the Centre. She criticised the BJP for raking up these issues ahead of assembly polls in various states, including UP.

Referring to Article 25 of the Constitution dealing with “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion”, Mayawati underlined the need for implementation of the Constitution in its letter and spirit in the interest of people. She specifically mentioned BR Ambedkar’s vision behind the right to freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution.

Mayawati said that the Modi government is raking up issues such as the Uniform Civil Code, triple talaq and Muslim Personal Law in view of the coming assembly elections in various states, including UP.

The BSP chief blamed the BJP for doing “ghinauni rajniti (disgusting politics)” under the cover of such issues. She said that Dalits are being targeted in the name of “gau raksha (cow protection)”.