The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) on Sunday slammed Kerala Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar for his remarks demeaning women and accused him of tarnishing the image of Islam.
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain urged the Muslims to oppose Musliyar's views.
"Aboobacker has not studied Islam properly. Women are treated equally in Islam. The kind of language that he has used is disappointing. The Constitution has given full right to women irrespective of their religion. It is because of people like him that a bad opinion about Islam is formed. Muslims should oppose such statements," he told ANI.
Musliyar stirred a controversy with his remark that gender equality was 'un-Islamic'. He also said that women could never be equal to men as 'they are fit only to deliver children'.
He reportedly said that a woman's duty is to rear children and feed her husband.
Musliyar also expressed his views on the controversy surrounding segregation of girls and boys in a Muslim-run education institute in Kerala, saying that allowing boys and girls to sit together in colleges was against Islam.
Musliyar had earlier drawn the ire of women right groups after he spoke out against women reservation in local governing bodies.
