Wading into the debate over the passage of a bill to criminalise the practice of triple talaq (instant divorce) among Muslims, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti on Monday alleged the BJP was “entering our homes” using the legislation.
Mufti was speaking to reporters in Srinagar. Mufti was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, “By bringing triple talaq bill, they [BJP] are entering our houses. This will disturb our family life and also, there'll be more problems for women and men economically.” Mufti cited her own marriage troubles to emphasis the economic problems women face after a broken marriage and also slammed the BJP for opposing reservation on religious lines for Muslims.
Mufti said, “I've gone through a broken marriage and I feel that women face biggest challenge economically after marriage is broken. When we talk about reservations for Muslims, BJP rejects it on religious lines. But when it comes to this kind of law, then they run to Parliament.”
Indian Muslims and we from jk which is a Muslim majority state , decided to stay with Gandhi's secular democratic India and let us not convert it into Zia-ul-Haq's nation .
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) December 31, 2018
In a series of tweets after meeting the reporters, Mufti alleged the triple talaq bill was dividing Muslim families and was a “direct assault” on them. Mufti also declared that Jammu and Kashmir had decided to stay in Gandhi's “secular India” and argued, “let us not convert it into Zia ul Haq's nation”, in a reference to the spread of radical Islam in Pakistan in the 1980s under then dictator Zia ul Haq.
Mufti also compared the triple talaq issue with the Sabarimala verdict. She tweeted, “Democracy is not run through brute majority, it is about consensus . Muslims accepted the decision of SC on invalidity of Triple Talaq, unlike the Sabarimala verdict . Best is to empower Muslim women to be able to face the world independently in case of a breakup.”
The Narendra Modi government managed to get the triple talaq bill passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday. While the Modi government and opposition parties had initially signalled their willingness to constructively debate the triple talaq legislation, various parties such as the Congress and Trinamool Congress have demanded the bill be sent to a parliamentary select committee. The triple talaq bill is scheduled to be taken up by the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
