New Delhi: Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, said that abolishing triple talaq has ensured gender equality for the crore of Muslim women. He said that those who oppose the abolition was trying to appease vote banks which makes the nation suffer.
He said, “It was a shortcut way to win the elections (by the Congress). You have to collectively take people forward in a democracy, not take the shortcut of appeasement. You don’t play politics with it. It started with Congress, now all other parties are following it.”
He added, “Vote bank politics has caused loss to the nation in many ways. Triple Talaq is one such example and vote bank politics is the reason that the evil practice of Triple Talaq was allowed for so many years.”
The Minister was speaking at the ‘Abolition of Triple Talaq: Correcting a Historic Wing’ at the Constitutional Club in New Delhi.
Amit Shah reminded the crowd that close to 19 countries have banned this practice. While most of the countries banned it in 1965, India could ban it only by 2019. He also said that this practice have no endorsement in the Holy Quran.
He said referred to a survey that says that 92% of Muslim women want the triple talaq banned.
Amit Shah also mentioned Shah Bano case of 1985 that gave justice to an elderly Muslim woman from her husband. However, when Rajiv Gandhi came to power with a huge majority – 400 seats in Lok Sabha, he overturned the apex court’s verdict.
Shah asked, ” When Sati was abolished, nobody opposed it. We ended child marriage and nobody opposed it.”