Modi defends raising marriage age of women

Prayagraj: Prime Minister Narendra Modi showcased his government's contributions to women's welfare and defended his government's big plan to raise the marriage age for women and put it on par with men.

Taking a swipe at his rivals, Modi said the government is trying to raise the marriage age of women to 21 so that they can have time to study and progress, but this has upset some.

Addressing a rally here in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due early next year, he said 25 lakh of the 30 lakh houses given under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana are registered in the name of women in the state.

"We are trying to increase the age of marriage of women. The country is taking this decision for its daughters. Everyone is seeing who is having problems with this," he said.

Two MPs of Samajwadi Party, along with the leaders of the Congress, CPM and several others, has said they would oppose the proposed bill in Parliament. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, though, has distanced himself from the issue, saying the SP is a "progressive party".

"Till five years ago, there was mafia-raj and goondaraj in Uttar Pradesh. The biggest sufferers were women. But you could say nothing.

If you went to police stations, a phone call in favour of rapists and criminals would come. But Yogi has put the criminals in their place," the PM said.