Kolkata: Lashing out at the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal over its support to ‘triple talaq’ and opposition to Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the BJP on Sunday accused it of “pursuing a communal agenda” and termed it “the best teacher of communal politics” in the country.
“If any sitting chief minister and state government could be accused of running a communal agenda, it is Mamata Banerjee and her government. Mamata Banerjee’s vote-bank politics is making her party support the communal get-together of Muslim bodies on November 18 to oppose UCC and banning of ‘triple talaq’.
“Mamata Banerjee, being a woman herself, and her party MPs, are supporting ‘triple talaq’ which is against gender equality. If communal politics is to be learnt, then the best teacher in India is Mamata Banerjee and the TMC,” BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said.
Joined by two TMC MPs, Sultan Ahmed and Idris Ali, the Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Mosque here, Syed Mohammad Nurur Rahman Barkati, had on Friday charged the Narendra Modi government with “trying to polarise the nation” by “imposing” Uniform Civil Code.
In an all-out attack against the BJP government over the raging debate on ‘triple talaq’ and UCC, Sultan Ahmed a few days back had accused the saffron party of “trying to infringe upon the fundamental and religious rights of Muslims and flare up communal passions in the country”.
He had said the BJP should leave it to the Muslims of the country to decide on ‘triple talaq’.
“Who gave the BJP the right to decide what the Muslims will do with their religion and religious rights? The BJP is trying to infringe upon the fundamental and religious rights of the Muslims in the country. They are trying to polarise the society and flare up communal passions in the name of Uniform Civil Code,” Ahmed had told PTI.
He had also said that the issue of the saffron party’s “attempt to interfere” in ‘triple talaq’ and UCC would come up during the All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s three-day triennial convention, starting November 18 in Kolkata.
The TMC MP had said that if the BJP government was really so “concerned” about the condition of Muslim women, it should create jobs and higher education facilities for them and facilitate their “social empowerment”.
PTI