BJP leaders converge at Naqvi’s iftar party

NEWDELHI: Minorities affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hosted an iftar for Muslim women at his official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Naqvi’s iftar — the only one by a minister in the Bjp-led government — was attended by a host of his cabinet colleagues including Home minister Rajnath Singh and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani, Harshvardhan and MJ Akbar were among those who trooped in shortly after the conclusion of the council of ministers meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi.

Asked for his comment on the event hosted by Gandhi, Naqvi said while the Congress was trying to use iftar “for political engineering, this is an occasion that shows the government is working for the people.” Naqvi’s office also used the occasion to distribute books on initiatives taken by the ministry in the last four years. Naqvi said nearly 400 Muslim women from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh had been invited.

“Muslim women’s empowerment is our government’s stated goal. This is a major step in that direction,” the BJP leader said.

A number of women present at the event were those who had been divorced by their husbands through Talaq-e-biddat or instant Triple Talaq that the central government intends to make a punishable offence under the law, even after the Supreme Court struck down the practice as void last year.

Speaking to reporters, Prasad said the proposed law was brought in by the government “for the dignity of Indian women”. He later said in a tweet, “It was so assuring to see large number of Muslim women demanding justice from unconstitutional practice of triple Talaq who repeatedly asked me to get the law regarding this passed soon (sic).”

“We have come here to raise the issue of loss of livelihood among a number of Muslim families due to closure of slaughterhouses,” Shaista Amber, president of the All India Women Personal Law Board, said.