New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, June 27, spoke about a range of subjects, including 'triple talaq', Uniform Civil Code, discrimination against Pasmanda Muslims, and Opposition's 'unity meet' in Patna, among others.

"Those who advocate for triple talaq" are driven by votebank politics, and are thereby doing "injustice to Muslim women", the prime minister said, during a question and answer session with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Bhopal,

He made these comments ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, which are scheduled to be held in November.

While Prime Minister Modi did not explicitly specify the identity of "those" individuals, his speech seemingly hits out at the Muslim community, thinly veiled under his purported concerns for Muslim women.

"Muslim-majority countries have also banned Triple Talaq. Recently, I was in Egypt...They abolished Triple Talaq around 80-90 years ago," he added.

In August 2017, the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict had ruled that the practice of triple talaq is void and illegal. The apex court had termed it 'unconstitutional' and 'violative of Article 14', and said that it is against the teachings of the Quran.

Additionally, the Union government had in July 2019 introduced the Triple Talaq Bill that makes the instant triple talaq a criminal offence and provides for a jail term to a Muslim man for the crime.

Several activists have condemned the government’s attempts to “criminalise Muslim men in the guise of protecting Muslim women”. The Bill has been opposed by Muslim women, too.

An opinion piece in The Wire had pointed out, citing the last census, that more than 2 million women live separated from their husbands, many the victims of desertion. "Let the law punish all such husbands, and not just the Muslim ones," it said.

Also read: For the BJP, Sabarimala Is Not a Place of Worship but a Battleground

Pitching in favour of a UCC, the prime minister said: "Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country be run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights...Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC," he said.

He further accused the Opposition of opposing the UCC for "vote bank politics".

Note that the main argument against a UCC is that it violates the constitutional freedom to practice the religion of choice.

PM Modi said that the country's Pasmanda Muslims have been facing widespread discrimination in the name of vote bank politics.

"Our Pasmanda Muslim brother and sisters' life has been made hell by those who do vote banks. They live a life of struggle. No one listens to them. They have been discriminated against so much, but there has been no debate on this. Even today, Pasmanda Muslims are not given an equal share. They are thought of as untouchables," the Indian Express reported him as saying.

Also read: Pasmanda Muslims and Their Decades-Long Fight for Equality

He called the Opposition's attempts to come together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls a reflection of their "helplessness".

"People and parties who used to abuse each other are now falling on each other's feet, and this reflects their helplessness," he said. "Don't be angry, pity them."

He further said that the Opposition parties had adopted the "path of appeasement", and that would ultimately lead to the "destruction" of the country.

"Some people live only for their party, want to do good to the party and they do all this because they get a share of corruption, commission, cut money. The path they have chosen does not require much effort and this is the path of appeasement," he said.

"Their politics runs only by keeping the poor poor, the deprived deprived. This path of appeasement can give benefits for a few days but it is a great destroyer for the country. It stops the development of the country, increases discrimination in the country, brings destruction in the country... creates a wall in the society," he added.

Hitting out at the Opposition, he said that those who had sought votes in the name of their family members, ended up only serving members of their own family. "If you want to do good to your son-daughter, grandson-grandson... the children of your family, then vote for BJP," he added.

The concern regarding the Muslim community goes totally in contrast with what is actually happening on the ground in India.

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