Is Congress only for Muslim men: PM Modi

​Azamgarh (UP): Raking up the reported remarks of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi that Congress is a party for Muslims, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he was not "surprised" by that but asked whet­her it would support Muslim women on issues like triple talaq. 

Addressing a public rally after laying the foundation stone of the Purvanchal Expressway here, Modi said: "For the last two days I am hearing, that a naamdar leader (Rahul Gandhi) recently said that Congress is a party of Muslims. 

"Even Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once said that Muslims have the first right over nation's natural resources."

"But I want to ask the naamdar of Congress, please tell that is the party only for Muslim men? Because they don't stand with Muslim women on issues of triple talaq and Nikah halala," he said.  

The Prime Minister's attack on Gandhi and the Congress on the issue of Muslims came a day after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress of dividing the country on communal lines and playing a dangerous game before 2019 general election.  

Citing a report in an Urdu daily which claimed that Gandhi told a meeting of Muslim intellectuals earlier this week that the Congress is a party for Muslims, she had demanded an apology from the Congress president.