Triple talaq victims to vote for Modi: UP minister

Victims of instant triple talaq will vote for Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary said Monday, barely 24 hours after the prime minister targeted opposition parties over the centuries-old tradition in Islam. Talking to PTI, the minister for minority welfare said the various educational reforms in the madrassa system will also prove to be beneficial for the party in the ongoing elections.

"The numerous beneficiaries of various welfare schemes, the victims of triple talaq and the educated women will vote for Modiji," Chaudhary said. When asked whether the BJP has been able to break the barrier in terms of voters from certain community traditionally not voting for it, Chaudhary said the prime minister has given the slogan of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" (together with all, development for all) and there has been no discrimination under the BJP government as far as implementations of various welfare schemes are concerned.

"I cannot say whether it will be 20 per cent or 25 per cent, but this is certain that those women who have benefitted from government schemes will definitely give their mandate in favour of the BJP," the minister said. On educational reforms, Chaudhary said, "Our effort was to integrate the madrassa course with the CBSE syllabus. Our endeavour is that madrassas should produce engineers, doctors, IAS and IPS. The educated people understand very well that they are getting the benefits of various welfare schemes without any discrimination."

Citing an example, he said, the examination of the UP madrassas were completed before the CBSE and UP board examinations and the results were also declared much before the others. "The government gave scholarships to madrassa students and the teachers were paid salaries through direct benefit transfer and no one found any discrimination in that," Chaudhary said.

"During the reign of Yogi Adityanath, there have been no Hindu-Muslim riots and all this has led to an increase in faith reposed by the Muslims in the BJP and the prime minister," he added. Addressing an election rally in Bhadohi on Sunday, Modi had targeted the opposition parties over the issue of instant triple talaq, saying the Congress and its allies were working overtime to stall a bill against the practice, but vowed to ensure they don't succeed.

He accused the Congress and its partners of "compelling" Muslim women to live in fear. The prime minister said the practice of instant triple talaq has been abolished in several Muslim countries around the world, adding that "their daughters' lives are not destroyed in the name of triple talaq. We want to give the same rights to our Muslim sisters in India".

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)