Ravi Shankar Prasad attacks Congress for opposing Triple Talaq legislation

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday slammed the Congress for opposing the legislation against triple talaq saying the party was supporting a social practice that has been banned in more than 20 Islamic countries. Addressing a farmers' congregation in East Champaran district, Prasad alleged that under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi the Congress was continuing with the politics of minority appeasement, unlike the motto of 'sabka saath sabka vikas' of the Narendra Modi government. "Rahul Gandhi seems to be following the path taken by his father Rajiv Gandhi in the Shah Bano case. Does he realize that triple talaq undermines the dignity of Muslim woman.

"Is he aware that this form of instant divorce has been outlawed in as many as 22 Islamic countries. Why can then India not have a law banning this retrograde social practice," Prasad said. Notably, in the 1980s, the Supreme Court had ruled that a divorced Muslim woman was entitled to alimony which was vehemently opposed by a section of Islamic clerics which alleged that the verdict amounted to interference with the Muslim Personal Law.

A law was subsequently enacted in Parliament by the Rajiv Gandhi government overturning the Supreme Court judgement drawing sharp criticism from a section of Muslim women as also opposition parties like the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of indulging in minority appeasement ahead of the general elections of 1989. The Congress has been opposing the triple talaq legislation brought by the Modi government in Parliament after the practice was declared ultra vires of the Constitution by the Supreme Court.

The Congress, along with a number of other opposition parties, has held that the bill against triple talaq which made instant divorce punishable with imprisonment for a period of up to three years was arbitrary. A fresh controversy has, however, arisen following a statement by Sushmita Dey, the chief of Congress women's wing, on Thursday that the party would scrap legislation banning triple talaq if it is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

" The Modi government believes in taking all sections of the society along and ensuring the progress of all. This includes Muslims and women and therefore we have brought this law," Prasad said. In an apparent reference to the Rafale fighter plane controversy, he alleged that under pressure from big powers in the world, the Indian Air Force was not allowed to have its own fleet of fighter aircraft for about 30 years. "We have tried to change that," he said.

Those casting an evil eye on the Indian territory got a befitting reply in the form of surgical strikes. In less than five years, the Modi government has built more toilets and given more gas connections than the previous governments did in several decades, the Union minister said. It is the Modi government which introduced close to 100 schemes for giving a boost to dairy farming and fisheries besides guaranteeing an assistance of Rs 6000 per year to poor farmers, he said.

"And our schemes are implemented transparently and efficiently. Rajiv Gandhi had spoken about only 15 paise of every rupee spent by the government reaching the people. Modi government has done away with middlemen with direct cash transfers," he added. The three-day event 'Kisan Kumbh' which will conclude on Monday was inaugurated by Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon. Others who spoke on the occasion included Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

(With inputs from agencies.)