Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said Muslim women affected by the triple talaq practice had voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party “in good numbers” in Uttar Pradesh because Opposition parties have remained silent on the matter. “The state has the highest number of victims of this practice...It is unfortunate that [Bahujan Samaj Party chief] Mayawati, [former Chief Minister] Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple and [Congress leader] Priyanka Gandhi are silent on the issue,” he said, according to PTI.

Prasad said that the Centre had asserted in its argument at the Supreme Court that triple talaq was “not an issue of religion, but of gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity”. “Any wrong practice like untouchability cannot become part of worship because it is against the Constitution. Not discriminating against women is also the part of the Constitution,” the Union minister said, adding that more than 20 Muslim-majority countries had either limited or fully abolished the practice.

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The minister made the comments at the eighth convocation of the Gujarat National Law University in Gandhinagar.

Meanwhile, a group of Muslim women – activists and lawyers – staged a demonstration in Delhi, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban triple talaq. They said women countrywide were were pained by the practice and received no sympathy from local police and courts when approached for help.

A participant at the protest, Rehmani, said, “Men divorce women by uttering the three words using excuses like ‘she is too short’, ‘she is not beautiful’, ‘she doesn’t cook good food’ and such. Are these valid reasons for divorcing a woman who you married willingly and in your full senses?” Another participant Shehnaz Afzal said, “Muslims have realised that the BJP is not against them,” India Today reported.

The women campaigned at the Vithal Bhai Patel House in New Delhi, holing up placards with Modi’s programmes such as Sabka “Saath, Sabka Vikas’, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ and ‘Muslim behnon ne mana hai, Modi ji ka saath nibhana hai” (Muslim women agree that they should support Modi).