BJP leader Subramanian Swamy (TOI file photo)

MUMBAI: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy claimed on Sunday that support for the ruling BJP among Muslims has increased after the Narendra Modi-led government decided to criminalise the practice of instant triple talaq among the minority community.

He said only "extremists" from the community are against the BJP now.

"Only extremist Muslims will not vote for the BJP but the rest will be with BJP. After we banned things like triple talaq, for which there is even division among Muslims, 50 per cent of the community today is voting for BJP," Swamy said, referring to the passage of a bill criminalising instant triple talaq in Lok Sabha last year.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 is pending with Rajya Sabha.

On the CBI filing a chargesheet against Congress leader P Chidambaram and his son Karti for alleged irregularities and criminal conspiracy in the Aircel-Maxis deal case on Thursday, Swamy said: "People warned me that nobody can touch him. All judges are in his pocket. All police commissioners are in his pocket. But I said I am not in his pocket".

Last month, Swamy sought to implead himself as a party in a plea seeking a probe into alleged disproportionate assets of a senior Enforcement Directorate officer investigating the Aircel-Maxis case.

Responding to a query on the proximity between the Congress and the Shiv Sena, which abstained from voting on the no-confidence motion in Parliament despite being an NDA partner, he said: "Sena is an ideological blood brother and we have no intention of letting them go.

"They are angry about something, some of it is justified and some not... I don't see any real problem we have with the Shiv Sena. But I find it a bit odd that they have ministers in our government and yet they chose to abstain. They could have made speeches and criticised, but they should have voted with us," he said when asked about the Sena praising Rahul Gandhi 's speech in Lok Sabha in its mouthpiece 'Saamna'.

The BJP had won the no-trust motion by 325-126 votes.

Responding to a query on Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal's remarks on incidents of lynching, he said: "Yes, there is a great deal of concern that prime minister Narendra Modi looks unshakable and the latest no-confidence motion has demoralised the opposition which was trying to make him look bad."

A man was allegedly lynched by a group of people in Alwar district of Rajasthan on Friday night on suspicion that he was smuggling cows. After that incident, Meghwal reportedly said "more popular Modi ji becomes, more such incidents will happen".

Swamy also that the Opposition has "not been able to level a single charge" against Modi. "In fact, Rahul Gandhi embraced Modi (in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion debate).

"I told Modiji to be careful... (I told him) Please go and have a medical check-up (after the hug)," he said.

Swamy claimed that the no-trust motion was the fallout of the "frustration" of the Congress and the rest of the opposition.

