Parties spar in RS on talaq
Opposition insist on panel; BJP ally Telugu Desam backs Opposition
The fate of the contentious triple talaq bill continued to hang in a balance on the penultimate day of the winter session of Parliament on Thursday, with the Rajya Sabha witnessing a rancorous debate between the government and the Opposition over whether to refer it to a Select Committee.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley contended the resolutions moved by the opposition to send the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill to a Select Committee were not according to the rules.
The Congress suggested that the face-off could be resolved if the government agreed to make provisions for providing financial aid to Muslim women divorced through instant triple talaq, and their families, after their husbands were sent to jail.
Speaking in unison, almost the entire opposition, particularly the Congress, TMC and the Samajwadi Party insisted on the bill and the related resolutions for referring it to a Select Committee to be taken up first. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), an ally of the ruling NDA, had also backed the opposition demand.
Mr Jaitley, the Leader of the House, however, contested it, saying the two amendments were invalid as 24-hour notice was not given by the two MPs.
“If you want to sabotage the bill, you will automatically disqualify to be the member of the Select Committee,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said “Let the government say it will take care. We will accept (the Bill in its present form) if the government bears the expenses of the family till the husbands are imprisoned,” Mr Azad said and urged the government to accept the suggestion.