Jaitley says votes are important and so is fairness

A day after the Congress asserted that it will scrap the instant triple talaq bill if voted to power, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said that the Opposition party president Rahul Gandhi would be taking ‘ another retrogade step’ after his fatherlate Rajiv Gandhi, to drive Muslim women not merely into destitution but also to ‘ live a life which is an antithesis of human existence.’

Citing the Bareilly Nikah Halala incident, which ‘ shook conscience of people,’ Mr Jaitley said “While votes are important, so is fairness and political opportunists only look at the next day’s headlines but nation builders look at the next century.”

He said the late Rajiv Gandhi committed a ‘ monumental mistake’ in legislatively overturning the Shah Bano judgment of the Supreme Court, which guaranteed maintenance to all muslim women,

The Supreme Court had declared instant triple talaq as unconstitutional

Political opportunists only look at the next day’s headlines. But nation builders look at the next century. — Arun Jaitley, Union minister

and a bill in this regard has been pending in the Upper House of Parliament where the Modi government lacks majority.

Congress leader Sushmita Dev, in Mr Gandhi’s presence, hadclaimed that her party would scrap the triple talaq bill because ‘ it is a weapon that Narendra Modi has prepared to put Muslim men in jail.’

Citing the Bareilly Nikah Halala incident Mr Jaitley said “Unfortunately, when human conscience should have been repelled while reading this news in the morning newspapers; the AICC President Rahul Gandhi and his coterie, while addressing a minority convention, promised to withdraw the bill pending in Parliament, penalising Triple Talaq.”