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Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 22
Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP chief Amit Shah, on Tuesday hailed as “historic” the triple talaq verdict, and termed it a victory for Muslim women.
“Today is the beginning of a new era of dignity and equality for Muslim women. The BJP sees it as way forward towards a determined ‘New India’,” Shah said.
“The verdict is not a question of a win or a loss for anyone. It is a victory of the right to equality and basic constitutional rights of Muslim women,” he said, lauding the prime minister and the BJP government for putting before the apex court BJP’s stance, prudently and judiciously.
The next step is now expected to be a legislation to give “a concrete definition and form to the Supreme Court verdict”, say party leaders.
Till then the apex court verdict should be considered the law and BJP leaders should “exercise restraint and “not allow it to become a religious or us-versus-them issue,” is the directive from the top leadership.
It wants “dignity and constitutional rights of Muslim women” to remain central to the theme but without the religious undertones.
The BJP is expected to showcase the verdict as a vindication of its stance against a practice that violates the basic principles of gender justice and equality—an add-on to the existing poll plank of development, good governance and “Hindutva”.
However, even as the BJP’s stance is being linked to its attempts to impact 50 per cent of the Muslim community, saffron leaders do not foresee “any magical changes in the saffron party’s existing fortunes” in the community.
“The verdict gives us a moral high ground but to think that it has helped us make immediate inroads in the Muslim community is wrong,” they said on the impact of the triple talaq issue.
“The PM has also supported the issue on multiple occasions. However, it would take another 10 years for a change in attitude of the community. But it will certainly help increase the participation of minorities in the government policies,” say the BJP leaders, who also denied that the triple talaq verdict was a precursor for Uniform Civil Code.
”The triple talaq issue is distinct from the UCC,” they said on the long standing poll plank of the saffron party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Judgment of the Hon’ble SC on Triple Talaq is historic. It grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women empowerment.”
BJP chief Amit Shah: “The judgment marks the beginning of a new era of pride and equality for Muslim women. The BJP welcomes and respects the expansion of Muslim women’s rights and sees today’s court order as a step towards a determined ‘New India’. It is a historic judgement, and not a question of victory or defeat. It’s an assertion of equal rights for Muslim women and the prevalence of their basic rights under the Constitution.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley: “The Supreme Court judgment in the triple talaq case undoes the injustice to Muslim women who were victims of a unilateral termination of a matrimonial relationship.
The majority view of the Supreme Court is absolutely clear that this instant pronouncement is not fundamental to the religion itself. It is not even an essential aspect of the religion, and therefore it is discriminatory. It compromises the dignity of the women.”
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