The Congress on Wednesday accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government of treating the issue of 'Instant Triple Talaq' as a 'political football' for garnering votes rather than ensuring the welfare of Muslim women.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that for his party, the issue of Triple Talaq is about 'gender justice' and 'gender equity'.

"Subterfuge, subversion, suppression, and diversion of truth has become the DNA of the Narendra Modi government and the BJP. The perpetually misleading Union Law Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, has now become the master of deception and abuse, when it comes to hurling lies and allegations against the Congress party on every issue in an irrelevant and incoherent manner," Surjewala said.

"An unnerved BJP finding itself cornered on the issue of repeated and gruesome rape incidents, as also issues of women security seeking to divert and reset the political agenda by hurriedly bringing an ordinance on Instant Triple Talaq. Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have become habitual offenders of using the issue of Instant Triple Talaq as a political football for vote garnering rather than ensuring the welfare and subsistence of Muslim women," he added.

He claimed that the central government is indulging in "mere vilification and blame game" without releasing the proposed ordinance or listing out the solutions or concerns raised by Muslim women.

Earlier in the day, the Centre approved an ordinance after the Triple Talaq Bill could not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha due to lack of consensus last month during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, even as the Union Cabinet had approved an amendment to the Bill.

Triple Talaq, or verbal divorce, is often practised by a section in the Muslim community in India to instantly divorce their wives by uttering the word 'Talaq' three times. Several Muslim and women organisations have, over the years, have decried the practice, calling it un-Islamic and anti-women.