Modi pitches for justice to Muslim women

Bhubaneswar: Raising the ‘triple talaq’ issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said justice should be done to Muslim women and asked the BJP to reach out to the backward sections in the community over his government s bill to accord constitutional status to the OBC Commission.

Speaking at the party s national executive meeting, he said if there are social evils, the society should be woken up and efforts made to provide justice to the victims.

He also sought to allay apprehensions among Muslims about the BJP on the issue.

“He (Modi) talked about social justice. He said our Muslim sisters should also get justice. Injustice should not be done to them. Nobody should be exploited. We do not want that there is conflict within the Muslim community over this issue.

“What we have to do is that if there are any social evils, we have to wake up the society and make efforts to provide justice to them (Muslim women),” Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said while briefing reporters on Modi s speech.

Earlier, Modi also made an intervention during a discussion on a party resolution on his government s bill to accord constitutional status to the OBC Commission.

He noted that some backward sections of Muslims already enjoy the benefits from the OBC quota and such a commission will look into their concerns as well. Modi asked BJP leaders to reach out to them.

Asked about Modi s reference, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said OBC quota includes followers of different religions, unlike the SC and ST quotas which are for sections of the Hindu community.

—PTI