BJP seeks Rahul support to pass triple talaq, nikah halala Bills

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at the Congress asking if it is only a party for Muslim men, the BJP mounted further pressure on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi with Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asking him to join hands with the BJP to pass the instant triple talaq and nikah halala Bills in Parliament.

The development came on a day Rahul Gandhi clarified criticism on his “Muslim party”  remark and said the Congress stands with the persecuted and the “last person in the line” and seeks to erase “hatred and fear”.

The Congress has denied the remark “Muslim party” attributed to Rahul published recently in an Urdu daily as false and baseless.

“I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted.

Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me. I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress,” the Congress president said on Twitter.

Prasad wrote to Rahul suggesting that the party and the BJP join hands to get the two Bills along with the Women’s Reservation Bill as well as the measure on providing constitutional status to the National Commission on Backward Classes, passed in Parliament.

He was responding to a letter by Rahul to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring the Bill on granting 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Prasad wrote to Rahul as his Ministry deals with the issue of reservation in legislatures and personal laws.

Rahul had on Monday written to Modi asking him to ensure the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, starting July 18.

In his letter, Rahul offered his party’s unconditional support to the Bill and said the time has come for a change, and for women to take their rightful place in state legislatures and Parliament.