Saharanpur: In an obvious attempt to boost his election campaign in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, which hosts a sizeable Muslim population, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed on Saturday that Muslim women would bless him for centuries for removing the "sword" of triple talaq hanging over them and their families, PTI reported.
He claimed that real secularism is when all get the benefit of government welfare schemes irrespective of their caste and religion, as has been seen during the BJP rule.
"The BJP government has ended the evil practice of triple talaq. We enacted a strong law in the interest of crores of Muslim sisters" and protected their families," he said.
"Some are saying Muslim women have benefitted, but "they do not have a complete understanding. It is not that only Muslim women have benefitted" but also their parents and brothers who were always worried as to what would they do if their daughter or sister had to go through triple talaq," he continued.
"By ending this practice of triple talaq, we have saved the entire Muslim family and liberated it from the fear of the sword hanging over them. For centuries to come, Muslim daughters will continue to bless Modi", PM Modi claimed.
In Western UP, the constituencies housing a sizeable Muslim population are Rampur (42 per cent), Amroha (32 per cent), Saharanpur (30 per cent), Bijnor, Nagina and Moradabad (28 per cent each), Muzaffarnagar (27 per cent), Kairana and Meerut (23 per cent each) and Sambhal (22 per cent). Also, in Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Aligarh, Muslim voters constitute 19 per cent of the total electoral population.
In Uttar Pradesh, where about 15.34 crore people are eligible to vote, there are 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, and elections will be held in seven phases, starting from April 19.