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Compares triple talaq to Draupadi's cheer-haran, Yogi Adityanath bats for common civil code

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 17, Apr 2017, 15:08 pm IST | UPDATED: 17, Apr 2017, 15:23 pm IST

Compares triple talaq to Draupadi's cheer-haran, Yogi Adityanath bats for common civil code Lucknow: Calling for the end of the Muslim practice of triple talaq, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today equated it with the disrobing of Draupadi in Hindu epic Mahabharata and slammed the silence of the politicians over it.

"These days there is a new debate in the country. Some people are maintaining a silence on this issue. This reminds me of the scene in the Mahabharata in which Draupadi is being disrobed in an assembly and she asks a question to the gathering as to who is responsible for this?" he said at an event to mark the 91st birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar in Lucknow.

"No one was able to utter even a single word. At that time Vidur said people who have committed the crime, those who are the accomplices and those who maintained silence on this issue are equally responsible," Adityanath added.

Adityanath slammed those who were against uniform civil code, questioning why should there be two laws "when the entire country was one".

He said that politics should be practiced under the constitutional limits and pointed out that the late Chandrashekhar was also a votary of common laws.

"Even Chandrashekhar was in favour of a common civil code," the UP CM said, adding that everyone should speak out against oral talaq.

The Supreme Court (SC) is currently hearing a case on the constitutional validity of triple talaq, the Islamic practice some Muslims follow of divorcing their wife by saying the word 'talaq' three times.

The Centre and some NGOs, who are a party in the case in the SC, have submitted that triple talaq violates the right to gender equality. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other clerics have argued that triple talaq has the sanction of the Quran, forms part of Muslim Personal Law, and therefore, falls squarely outside the purview of the judiciary. It also said declaring it unconstitutional is akin to "rewriting the Quran."


"Those who give triple talaq without reasons prescribed by the Sharia (religious law) will face social boycott," said the AIMPLB yesterday.

"There has been misunderstanding on this issue, we will issue a code of conduct on it," it added.

Adityanath also chose to touch on Kashmir - which has been wracked with violence lately - and said he agreed with Chandrashekhar that Kashmir must remain a part of India.

"Chandrashekhar had said that if Kashmir is separated, India will lose its belief," Adityanath said at the book launch.

Adityanath's statement marks the continuation of a pro-Muslim women pitch the BJP has been raising, using triple talaq as the cornerstone of that outreach. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the BJP would focus on adding new socio-groups into its fold, especially the women and the poor among Muslims.

Dubbing triple talaq a "bad social practice", Modi said such things can be ended by social awakening but stressed that the Bharatiya Janata Party didn't want a conflict on this issue.

"As far as social justice is concerned, our Muslim sisters should also get justice. There should not be injustice to them. No one should be exploited," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari quoted Modi as saying.

Modi added: "We should not allow conflict in the society. We don't want any conflict in Muslim society over the issue. We need to end such bad practices by awakening the society."

Modi's observation came at his concluding remarks of the two-day BJP National Executive meeting in Odisha.

The Narendra Modi government had on October 7 last year opposed in the Supreme Court the triple talaq mode of divorce, 'nikah halala' and the practice of polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism.

Meanwhile, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) asserted that Muslims have the "constitutional" right to follow their personal law and said that those who are using triple talaq recklessly and without justification should be made to face social boycott.

"A code of conduct for talaq is being issued. With its help, the real picture of Sharia directives will be brought out on the talaq issue. If talaq is given without Sharia reasons, those involved will be socially boycotted," AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani said on Sunday.
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