Mohsin Raza , the lone muslim minister in Yogi Adityanath government in UP, has slammed those supporting triple talaq, arguing that if uttering the word `nikaah’ (wedding) thrice does not solemnise a marriage, how uttering the word ‘talaq’ thrice can result in divorce.
“My simple question is if saying talaq- talaq-talaq results in divorce, then saying nikaah-nikaah-nikaah should mean that wedding has been solemnised,” minister of state for Waqf and Haj Mohsin Raza said a day after the Lok Sabha passed the Muslim women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill .
He said going by the same logic, saying namaz-namaz-namaz should mean that prayers have been offered. “Nowhere is it written that saying talaq thrice will result in divorce. Do you think that by saying roza-roza-roza, my roza will be complete? Roza is a process, which has to be completed. Haj is a process, which has to be undertaken. Just saying Haj-Haj-Haj will not suffice. Similarly, talaq is a process,” he said.
Condemning the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, he said the AIMPLB has made a mockery of the muslim personal law and opposing the proposed Legislation banning triple talaq for serving its narrow vested interests. He said the AIMPLB can come up with the logic that you need not go to mosque and say namaz-namaz-namaz. “The AIMPLB should first learn the basic tenets of Islam and Islamic law” he said.
Mounting attack on Opposition parties for opposing the bill, he said, “Opposition should first say on what basis the AIMPLB should have been made a stakeholder while finalising the draft of the bill. The board is a registered society or an NGO. There are many organisations working for social welfare and the AIMPLB is one of them.” Raza also said the AIMPLB is neither ‘Shariat’ nor the Constitution of India.
“As far as the Opposition parties are concerned, they are always eager to take undue advantage of casteist and communal sentiments. They point fingers at us and accuse the BJP of being a communal party. In fact, the remote control of AIMPLB is in the hands of the Opposition parties, who have been baffled by the talaq bill,” the minister said.
``More than the AIMPLB, it is the Opposition parties who are baffled by the anti-triple talaq bill, as they seek the votes of the particular community, and hence they are talking like this’’, he alleged. “Please try to think as to why the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to take an initiative and draft a law in this regard at the first place. What was the need to do so? You call Modi as anti-Muslim. If the AIMPLB is a great well-wisher and thinks for the well being of the Muslim community, then it should list the welfare work done for the Muslims since its inception.
“In fact, the AIMPLB in the garb of welfare, talks about exploitation even today. Triple talaq is nothing but exploitation of poor women,” Raza said. On whether the provisions of the bill were tantamount to infringement on rights of Muslim men, he said, “The rights of women had been grossly violated. Unlike the AIMPLB, the BJP is of the view of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas ‘ and we stand for strengthening Muslim women’’.
“Muslim women have been dominated for ages by Muslim men. If the AIMPLB was so much concerned for the Muslim society, then why in the 1985 Shah Bano case, when the Supreme Court had awarded maintenance allowance to the divorced women, AIMPLB mobalised the clerics and mounted pressure on the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the judgment was ultimately reversed by the parliament. This resulted in Muslim women facing hardships since 1980s, and the AIMPLB and Congress are responsible for it,” he said.