Draupadi disrobing
Keeping quiet Uttar Pradesh chief minister says politicians about it are as culpable as those practising it
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday that politicians maintaining silence over triple talaq were equally guilty as those practising it. He likened the situation with Draupadi’s ‘cheer haran’ (disrobing) in Mahabharata.
Quoting the Mahabharata, Yogi said, “Some people are silent on this burning issue (triple talaq) facing the country. When Draupadi asked who was responsible for her disrobing, everybody kept quiet. Vidur said those indulging in the crime and those helping them were one-third guilty each while the remaining responsibility lay with those who remained mute spectators.”
The CM was addressing a gathering at the central hall of Vidhan Sabha after releasing a book, titled ‘Rashtra Purush Chandra Shekhar- Sansad main do took’, on the occasion of the 91st birth anniversary of former PM Chandra Shekhar. The book, edited by senior journalist Dhirendra Srivastava, has speeches made by the former PM in Lok Sabha. “For him, nation was more important than his own ideology. Our politics should be in national interest and within the framework of the Constitution,” Yogi said, adding that the former PM had sought a common law for all citizens.
Yogi said Chandra Shekhar had the courage to speak up against the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 though he was a member of the Congress.
“I had the opportunity to work with Chandra Shekhar in Parliament. We were ideologically opposed to each other. I was not in favour of ‘samajwadi’ ideology that patronised family rule, goondaism and anarchy. In contrast, when I looked at Jayaprakash Narayan and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, I thought socialism got lost somewhere. Whenever I heard or read the speeches of Chandra Shekhar, however, I realised a true socialist leader is still there in Parliament,” he added.
‘CONGRESS STANDS FOR GENDER JUSTICE’
Meanwhile, on the issue of triple talaq, the Congress party said that it stands for gender justice for all women.
“We have always been at the forefront of reforms in the society. The matter is sub judice and there is no reason to muddy the waters before the verdict,” party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. He accused the BJP of trying to “sensationalise and politicise” the “sensitive” issue. “For those who have shut their eyes to what we say, I want to tell them that the Congress stands for gender justice for all, including Muslim women,” Singhvi said.
The party also demanded an apology from Yogi for his “disparaging, distasteful and dishonourable” article on women. The article, according to Congress, was first posted in 2014, withdrawn and then reposted recently. “We demand the CM should apologise to women and withdraw his article,” chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.