When Ishrat Jahan, one of the key crusaders in the fight against triple talaq, joined the BJP last year, speculations said she might be given a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal. A little over a year later, Ishrat finds herself without a ticket, mired in financial difficulties, and worst of all, ostracised from the community. Running out of options, she says she may quit the party to earn a livelihood.
"Ishrat was told she would be given a ticket from the Uluberia constituency in Howrah district. She worked very hard to get the organisation in place there, but then learnt the ticket went to someone else," says a source close to Ishrat.
"My sister helps out with financial assistance which lets me run my family. I supplement it with some sewing work I do in the neighbourhood. I now have to deposit fees for my child's school, but how am I to do that when I can't even afford to pay for two square meals a day?" she cries from her 80-square-foot room.
She adds that people from her neighbourhood have ostracised her and look down on her for having joined the BJP. "If I quit the party, it will give me time to do more sewing work, and that'll help me earn more," she says.
Moreover, her former husband has now remarried, meaning she can't approach him for help either.
Ishrat, 33, was married to Md Murtuja Ansari in 2001. They lived in Bihar till 2004, and then moved to Howrah. The problems between the couple began after she gave birth to three daughters, while Ansari wanted a son. "Our fourth child was a boy, but his atrocities didn't end. He left me here and went back to Bihar, and then I learnt he had gone to Dubai for work. From Dubai, he called me saying he won't live with me, uttered talaq three times, and said it was over," Jahan recalls.
Unwilling to give up without a fight, Jahan fought back, first at the lower courts and then in the Supreme Court, until justice was hers. In August 2017, the apex court struck down triple talaq. It was a landmark victory for Muslim women's rights, and the Bengal BJP offered her help. On December 30, 2017, she joined the BJP.
Ishrat Jahan thought she would be given the BJP ticket from Uluberia for the Lok Sabha polls. But while the BJP’s ticket went to someone else, Ishrat also finds herself ostracised by her community in Howrah