Triple Talaq Bill: BJP wins the day as Rajya Sabha witnesses heated debate

The Congress and the entire opposition cut a sorry figure amidst heated debates on the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday which was played out on live TV.

It appeared that the opposition had walked into a neat trap set by the government.

First came the proposal that a decision be taken in the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha with Chairperson Venkiah Naidu.

The government gave an assurance that a consensus of the House would be taken and if all parties felt the necessity of the bill going to a Select Committee that would be done.

On Wednesday, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma moved a proposal. And what followed was a slanging match between the Treasury and opposition Benches.

There were no takers for pleas by Anand Sharma or Derek O' Brien of the Trinamool Congress. It was clear that the BJP had won the day.

"The Congress stands exposed. The people of this country know that the only party that has the welfare of Muslims at heart is the BJP," said Railway Minister Piyush Goel in glee.

The government came prepared in fact with MoS Parliamentary affairs even lining up over 50 burqa clad women, mostly from the minority cell of the BJP, to witness the proposed passage of the Bill.

The women, mainly from Goel's erstwhile Chandni Chowk constituency completed the picture of a party that, like Piyush Goel said, had Muslim empowerment at heart.

The finer points that most legislation in the NDA regime has not been undergoing Parliament's scrutiny under Select or Standing Committees and that Bills, prepared by bureaucrats, are becoming legislation was lost.

The fact that there could be legal lacunae in the Bill was also lost.

Experts like Lawyer Indira Jaisingh even questioned the very necessity of the Bill.

"A declaration that triple talaq is void restores her (the wife) to the status of a wife, where is the need to make it a crime except for being vindictive. What protection does that give a wife"? She tweeted.

The three year penalty clause will prove to be counterproductive has been the common refrain and hence the need to reflect has been the common refrain.

One of the many reasons for bringing the Bill now Finance Minister Arun Jaitly claimed was that when triple talaq was declared unconstitutional, two of the judges said Parliament should come up with appropriate legislation within six months.

That deadline expires on February 22. "So, there is an urgency that the country expects from Parliament. Legislature must act with sense of responsibility," Jaitley said.

Former Minister Kapil Sibal who was lawyer for AIMPLB in the Supreme Court on the triple talaq issue had a point which was again lost in the din. "He (Arun Jaitley) referred to judgement of the Supreme Court; I want to correct the record because I appeared in the case on behalf of Muslim Personal Law Board. What he said was in context of the minority judgement."

He said Mr Jaitley was misleading because the courts also said that till the legislation comes in, the judgement would continue.

With 48 hours to go before the session ends, the opposition has given no indication whether it will recalibrate its strategy or allow the BJP to win the rhetoric and the bill.

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