The Centre’s Narendra Modi government on Tuesday managed to pass the contentious Triple Talaq Bill even in the Rajya Sabha despite the BJP lacking majority in the Upper House of the parliament. The Bill had already passed the Lok Sabha test.
On Tuesday, 99 MPs voted in favour of the Bill while 84 votes against.
What helped the BJP in on Tuesday was the abstention by MPs from K Chandrashekar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Mehbooba Mufti’s TDP. Also reducing the majority mark for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha was the walkout by Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United.
A report by NDTV said that Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the NCP, five MPs from the Congress, six from the Samajwadi Party, four from Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, two from Trinamool Congress, and one each from Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and MK Stalin’s DMK were also absent during the voting, thereby helping the smooth passage of the Bill.
The passage of the Triple Talaq Bill in both houses of the parliament now means that giving divorce to Muslim wives by pronouncing talaq thrice instantly will be a criminal offence and Muslim men will be liable to be sent to jail.
Terming the development historic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “I thank all parties and MPs who have supported the passage of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 in both Houses of Parliament. They have risen to the occasion and this step of theirs will forever be remembered in India’s history.”
In his subsequent tweet, the prime minister said, “This is an occasion to salute the remarkable courage of those Muslim women who have suffered great wrongs just due to the practice of Triple Talaq. The abolition of Triple Talaq will contribute to women empowerment and give women the dignity they deserve in our society.”
JD-U and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD were originally against the Bill, but they changed their minds after PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah reportedly called the two chief ministers on phone.