Amit Shah flays appeasement politics

Home Minister says Congress allowed triple talaq because of its hunger for power.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday blamed the “politics of appeasement” for the “evil practice” of triple talaq till this year.

He was speaking at a public lecture on “Abolition of triple talaq: correcting a historic wrong” at an event organised by the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation in New Delhi.

Mr. Shah defended the law criminalising triple talaq, saying it was going to benefit Muslims, and not other communities.

The Home Minister said it took several decades to end this practice because of the Congress.

Referring to the Rajiv Gandhi government’s decision to bring a law to overturn the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case, he said it would be considered a “black day” in the history of Parliament.

“When some people are hungry for power, they resort to the politics of appeasement. They are not concerned about Muslim women but concerned only about vote-bank,” he said.

“The election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister in 2014 was the beginning of the end of the politics of appeasement and the 2019 mandate is to end it forever,” Mr. Shah said.

“This evil practice of triple talaq was going on for long and the Modi government has abolished it forever and given the Muslim women the right to live in dignity and equality,” he said.

Mr. Shah also addressed the issue of penal provisions in a civil matter.

“In case of child marriage, there is a provision for two years’ jail. Similarly, dowry is a civil matter. In a dowry case, if just a demand is made, there is a provision for two years’ imprisonment,” he said.

Triple talaq has been criminalised, he said, to create fear among some people that “if you do this, you will be punished”.

“Earlier, the triple talaq law had no provision for maintenance for women. Now, we have made provision for maintenance,” he said.

The Home Minister said he wanted forgiveness from Muslim women as they had to suffer for long. “I wish you a bright future ahead and want to assure you that I would leave no stone unturned to ensure your social security,” he said.

The triple talaq Act makes declaration of talaq-e-biddat or pronouncing talaq three times in spoken, written or through SMS or WhatsApp or any other electronic chat in one sitting illegal.

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