NEW DELHI: The BJP is launching a countrywide campaign to mobilise support of Muslim women against Triple Talaq and to counter the All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s (AIMPLB) claim of having collected four crore declarations in support of the outlandish practice.
The BJP plan, to be implemented through the RSS-backed Muslim Rashtriya Manch, will be a gigantic exercise, reaching out to over four crore Muslim women across the country, more than the number cited by the AIMPLB, and submit a report to the Law Commission and the government incorporating their views.
According to Yasir Ali Jilani, convener of the signature campaign, it has already started in Delhi and UP, and will be extended to other parts of the country as soon as the Delhi civic polls are over. Teams of Muslim Rashtriya Manch workers will inform the people how the government is with the Muslim women on the issue of Triple Talaq. “We have started the signature campaign in the Muslim-dominated areas of Delhi and have taken the views of women on this. Now, the exercise will be conducted from Kanyakumari to Kashmir,” said Jilani.
Recently, AIMPLB claimed that it has collected declarations by over four crore people of Muslim community supporting Triple Talaq. Following the controversy, the Law Commission has also started an exercise to invite public opinion on the contentious issue of uniform civil code.
“Our teams are informing the community of the present government’s stand on this issue. Muslim women are very hopeful of this government in their quest to get rid of the age-old custom of Triple Talaq,” Jilani said.
He said there is a lot of awareness among the women in Delhi, but that is not the case in other parts of the country. “Over one lakh women have already participated in Delhi. But, Muslim women in other parts of the country are not aware. We want women to come forward and speak about the hardships they have faced. In the nationwide movement, our volunteers will create awareness among Muslim women about the evils of this practice,” he said
The Modi government has, through an affidavit in the Supreme Court, supported a ban on Triple Talaq, much to the displeasure of the Muslim Personal Law Board. The government position is that the practice violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women and leads to their exploitation. Recently, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had attacked those not speaking out against Triple Talaq, saying they were equally guilty as the ones practicing it.