- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AT a time when the hijab row involving Muslim women has been escalating in the southern Indian state of Karnataka and its spill-over effect is being seen elsewhere, prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (10) said his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government stands with ‘har majloom’ (every Muslim woman who has been victimised).
Addressing a public rally in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh, a state which went to elections starting the same day, Modi said, “Our government stands with ‘har majloom’ (every victim Muslim woman). Those people (Opposition parties) are trying to trick Muslim sisters to push them back in their lives.”
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He also said that the BJP government freed the Muslim sisters and daughters from the menace of triple talaq (a form of divorce practised in Islam).
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“Muslim sisters and daughters understand our clear intentions. We made them free of Triple Talaq, and gave them protection. When the BJP received support from the Muslim women, these vote- ‘thekedaar’ (contractors) got restless, seeing that their daughters were chanting “Modi-Modi”… They’re trying to trick Muslim sisters again,” he added.
Modi took a dig at opposition parties over dynasty politics, cautioning people from trusting their “tall claims”.
“A whole ‘parivaar-vaad’ (dynastic) party is making fake promises to the people of UP …Remember if someone promises big, they are usually empty, and irresponsible. They promised electricity, but kept UP in dark and illuminated their residing district only, leaving Saharanpur and others to fend for themselves,” Modi said.
“Earlier governments had no vision because of ‘parivar-vaad’. They could not see or think beyond family. They did not worry about you but only ran everything via mafias. We bring permanent solutions and want every citizen to live with self-respect,” Modi, who will seek re-election at the national level in two years’ time, said.
He also referred to riots in Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur and labelled the Samajwadi Party, a major player in UP, as “dangawadi” (rioters).
“Don’t think for a moment that these ‘dangawadis’ have reformed. They are just waiting for a chance. The rioters of Saharanpur were welcomed by these mafia-like people. Across western UP, they are backing rioters. These people want to take revenge against the people of UP. Those who were cursing rioters earlier are now standing with the same rioters,” the BJP leader said.
Thursday saw voting getting underway in 58 seats of the 403-seat assembly. The fate of 623 candidates will be decided on the day.
