In a significant announcement, Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev
on Thursday said that the party would abolish the Triple Talaq law if
it was voted to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at the
AICC minorities convention in the presence of Congress president Rahul
Gandhi, Dev said the focus of the Triple Talaq Bill was not to empower
Muslim women but to penalise Muslim men.
“I promise that the Congress party will come to power in 2019 and
will scrap the Triple Talaq law. The law is just another weapon of the
Modi government to arrest and harass Muslim men and put them in prison,”
Dev said.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill was passed
by the Lok Sabha in the Winter Session of Parliament last year but has
faced roadblocks in the Rajya Sabha. The Opposition has demanded that
the bill be sent to a select committee.
In January, the government re-promulgated the ordinance banning the
practice of instant triple talaq, which attracts a jail term of three
years for the husband. While the ordinance makes it a “non-bailable”
offence, an accused can approach a magistrate even before trial to seek
bail.
Reacting to her remark, BJP
spokesperson Sambit Patra termed it as Congress’ “appeasement
politics”. “Rahul Gandhi says that if Congress comes to power, it will
scrap triple talaq law. It is nothing but appeasement politics,” he
said.
Training her guns on the government over the Citizenship Bill, which
has lead to unrest in the North-east, Dev said the legislation was
unconstitutional and the Congress would oppose it tooth and nail.
“The Citizenship Bill is creating unrest in Assam. The Congress is
fighting against it. The bill is unconstitutional. We won’t let the
government bring any law that is against the Constitution,” the MP from
Assam’s Silchar said.
The Citizenship Bill, passed by Lok Sabha on January 8 amid a walkout
by the Congress, seeks to remove hurdles for migrants belonging to
minority groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan in getting
Indian citizenship.
